Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) deliberately held back the launch of its latest device, the Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP) to avoid shortages, David A. Reeves, SCEE president, told The Sunday Times.

With production for what is technically known as the PAL territories (including Europe and some southern hemisphere countries like Australia and New Zealand) starting at the end of June, Mr Reeves is expecting a sales binge for the first few weeks after the launch on Thursday, followed by a lull in October, before the customary Christmas rush.

The PSP has been a phenomenal success selling 5.5 million in Japan and almost two million units in North America, where it was launched in March. Mr Reeves defined the PSP as taking you from gaming to entertainment and beyond. PSP goes beyond household penetration to the realm of personal use.

Sony aims to broaden its appeal to a more 'mature' gaming age group (for PlayStation typically aged four to 15), appealing to those who want to be 'hip' with the latest device. "We want to revolutionise portable computer entertainment, creating a personal multimedia space with music, video, games and the ability to store and retrieve pictures," he said.

The key to the PSP's success is the UMD, a disc format that is so far exclusive to this device. "Sony Computer Entertainment, in fact Sony Corporation's intent, is to make UMD a genuine format," Mr Reeves said. "Sony itself, as a corporation, of course, is already in competition with things like the Apple iPod.

"But what people still like is to have something in their hands and it's portable. We've actually been pleasantly surprised, particularly in the US and now even in Europe, that more and more, not only Hollywood movie theatrical companies, have said: 'Yes, I am going to publish on UMD', and have actually done it.

"They are coming in not just with big theatrical releases but with TV shorts; UMD on books; and things like that. People we have never even heard of. Some people have said, 'Can we do it straight? Can we do it with hybrids, games and things like that.'

"We feel that UMD will in fact explode. PSP for the moment is the only one that plays UMD but I think you are going to see other devices that will play UMD. Most of these devices will be portable and, for the moment, UMD is non-recordable, so the company retains full proprietary rights."

Apart from a number of games that are lined up for the launch, appealing to different audiences, Mr Reeves is promising some 20 film releases - 50 by Christmas - and some 80-100 video music titles a month.

Asked whether he was worried about the competition, particularly from the X-box 360, Mr Reeves said he continues to believes like his predecessors, that competition is good. "The games industry in the late Eighties, early Nineties, was a specific part of culture in many countries.

"In the UK, the US, it was small but people saw it positively. In countries like Germany, maybe Sweden and Holland, it was also small but people saw it in a very negative light. Playing games was solitary and for geeks."

Turning to the competition, he said anything that Microsoft, Nintendo or Nokia do to broaden the market was good. "What we are seeing more and more is that to program these games for the more complex formats costs more money. We want to make it simpler and, at the same time, we want to make that market even double in size.

"Although we worry about market share, we worry more about growing the business. We have to grow at least 15% a year - doubling that whole sector of the entertainment market in five years. It would be nice to have an 80 per cent market share, of course, but the more important thing is the size (of the market).

"Do we think about X-box 360? I don't particularly think about it. I think early adopters will buy it, but I'd like to think that people will feel that, from what we've shown at E3 (a major computer show in the US), PlayStation3 is worth waiting for and I think there are going to be many people who buy both. And I hope they do.

"That's good for the industry, good for the shopkeepers and good for you guys to talk about as well. But we're not in head to head competition as if we were in the boxing ring. It's not like that. That's self-defeating."

Under the chairmanship of Howard Stringer, Mr Reeves sees Sony Corporation playing more to its strengths. He believes there will be more convergence between the various divisions and concentrating only in the areas where it can be profitable - to the benefit of all.

The interview with Mr Reeves was arranged by Etienne Borg Cardona, a director of the Forestals Group, at the Malta-Hilton during a Sony Distributor conference recently, which was attended by 1,400 people. Sony PlayStation is distributed in Malta by FGL Information Technology Limited, a subsidiary of the Forestals Group.

www.fglit.com/entertainment