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Playstation portable --- rumoured delays after announcement by Sony

The trouble with big trade shows is that people like Sony have to be there, and have to make a splash. So they took PSP - the Playstation Portable - to CES Las Vegas ... and we're still waiting for the splash because it seems it's not actually ready. Oh, it sells in Japan, but America?

The Linux Insider folks believed Sony's March date - one of the few commentators to buy those hints ("we have to make the Easter buying rush") - and predicted at least a European launch success, but said that the PSP didn't have the power. "The battery life isn't there," said Susan Shor.

At The Street hints weren't enough: reporter Troy Wolverton mocked the Japanese giant for not announcing either price, or delivery date.

At Kotaku, they quoted analyst PJ McNealy saying that the thing wasn't ready, and Sony simply couldn't make enough to launch in the US before June.

The Herald Tribune liked the idea of linking your mobile PC to your home video store, and praised the Playstation Portable for having this feature - which, no doubt, several mobile phone companies will be cackling in evil fashion about, only to be disappointed when it turns out that teenagers aren't allowed to download full length videos from home over their cellphone links.

At Joystiq the analysis was: Sony has been tricked. It's followed Nintendo into a tiny market, says Ben Zackheim; Nintendo's DS is merely an experiment, and Nintendo itself doesn't believe in high-end portable game players. "Sony has fallen into a trap," he concludes.

Interestingly, none of the analyses seen has asked what Microsoft thinks. Microsoft has, at last, a successful game platform in XBox. But where is the portable X?

Watch this space: Newswireless may have a surprise ...