Sony To Launch Official PlayStation App For iPhone, Android

Smartphones have fast become a major arena for video game industry players, and now Sony is looking to get on board with a free PlayStation app for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android, which it plans to release in the near future. Sony's official PlayStation mobile app will be primarily geared at enabling users to access social features, like friends' status updates, the games friends are playing, new game listings and news announcements. The company hasn't specified a launch timeline for this first version, and only formally announced plans to launch the app, outside the U.S., in the UK, Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the Netherlands. Sony's PlayStation brand is nonetheless later than some of its peers to arrive in the mobile app space: Microsoft has built its entire Windows 7 phone plan with its gaming presence at the center, aiming to offer Windows 7 phone users an entry point to their Xbox Live accounts and friends' activities through the device. And cloud-based game streaming service OnLive has launched an app that lets users view what their friends are playing from an iPad that presents a live grid view of other gamers' playtime. Other game companies that offer an over-arching networking service around their title offerings are doing the same; Electronic Arts' casual Pogo label recently launched a Pogo app for users of the portal's titles.