I’ve just updated my Sony Playstation Portable (PSP). It’s one of the smoothest upgrade processes I’ve seen for any electronic device. You just selected the ‘Network Update’ option on the menu bar, the PSP scurries off onto the internet (via Wifi) and checks for the latest Firmware. If it’s newer than the machine, it’ll download the file, and you can choose to install it then, or later. And it doesn’t wipe out any setting or preferences on the PSP.

One day, all mobile phones will be like this.

But that’s an aside. Rather than talk about basic infrastructure, I wanted to look at Sony’s approach to the PSP, and a rather tantalizing addition to the PSP’s internet menu – Google Search.

Windin back a PSP to v1.00 and you’ll find a machine that is significantly less feature rich than the current v4.05. It could play games (which is a good thing) and play music, albeit only in Sony’s own proprietary ATRAC format (essentially the compression format used for minidiscs). But as firmware versions kept coming, improvements and additions were made. MP3 support was added, Windows Media (unencrypted first, then encrypted), a web browser was bundled in, a streaming MP3 client for podcasts (which saved to disk for offline usage in the subsequent firmware). In short even though there were tens of millions of PSP’s out there Sony continued to develop the device capabilities. Interestingly, all these new features never cost the users anything extra. Perhaps the lawyers behind the iPod Touch should get in touch with Sony and ask how they made that work?

Anyway, on to the addition of Google Search under the network tab – labeled Internet Search, but powered by Google, from a programmers point of view this allows you to enter a search term in the PSP user interface, which is passed cleanly to the web browser and presents you the results. It also keeps a history of your search terms so you can
Google again whenever the need takes you.

Why do I think this is a good sign of things to come? Two reasons, the first is the continued improving of a product after it leaves the factory. Apple may get the plaudits for the iPhone, Nokai may be doing the donkey work on millions of Symbian handsets, but it’s Sony and the PSP that have made a workable, user friendly updater and are seriously using it to help the product.

The second is Google wants to be everywhere, and are making sure that if a device gets on the internet, then the user will be handed a search page that belongs to Google. Given that Google’s affiliate program passes a tiny fraction of a dollar to its partners for each search term they pass them, be it through a PSP icon, or the search bar in Firefox, there is an inducement to companies to add Google. Tiny fractions add up when you have the software installed on millions of devices. And of course there is still a ‘market choice’ in providing search to devices, and Sony could have went to anyone. Honestly.

So the device owners get a recurring income stream, the users get easy access to search, and Google continues to get a nice big percentage of the new search avenues before they become truly profitable. Which might prove contentious down the line, especially to other search providers and online advertising companies.