a "rough" chance, at best!!

A "ROUGH" CHANCE at best, for Looksmart ??

On 20th of August, 2005 Nick W of Threadwatch.org reported, (under the heading of "PSP in Search Deal?") that Sony had delayed their PSP Firmware 2.0 Upgrade for the North American market. (Play Station portable).

< There's some speculation as to exactly why the US rollout of the PSP 2.0 firmware has been delayed. The firmware includes a browser, and if you look at the official reason given for the delay, there's an interesting little tidbit it there. >

He went on to say:

< So, has one of the major engines been busy making a deal with Sony to have their Search pre-installed? It would be a massive coup, and would very much suit either Google or Yahoo! to be associated with such a device... >

http://www.threadwatch.org/node/3548

Interesting enough, on 2/9/2005 Search Engine Journal (SEJ) reported, that in Japan:

Sony PSP Commercials Feature Google Search

< Sony PSP commercials in Japan are featuring the ability to search Google using the PSP as Sony’s Portable Playstation moves beyond mobile gaming and movies and into web browsing and search. >

http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=2154

They then went on to say, (in relation to the North American market):

< As of today there is no info available about Google working with Sony PSP to become the default search engine for its users, however ThreadWatch’s NickW pointed to a Russell Beattie post which rumors about the possibility of a search deal causing the delay in PSP 2.0 web browser updates in the US. From Russell, “I wonder if there’s a Search Engine out there (Y!, G, AOL, LookSmart? Probably not MSN…) that saw the upcoming release and called Sony and made a deal to get pre-installed on the PSPs. Now for the past week, they’ve been doing work to index PSP-friendly websites? Maybe this is the reason for the unexplained delay. The update is already out in Japan and works perfectly on my PSP - there doesn’t seem to be a technical reason for the wait >

Whilst only an 'outside' chance for Looksmart, I found it most interesting that Google (as is being reported) wasn't the 'walk up start' that it would have been thought to be. Now, particularly when a follow-up mention on yesterday, 5/9/2005 (from SEJ) continues with this little intrigue????


http://www.searchenginejournal.com/index.php?p=2159

On Friday I wrote about how Sony PSP was featuring Google Search in its Japanese television commercials and the possibility of Google partnering with Sony PSP’s web browser for other Google offerings. Takahiro Watanabe of SEM-Research, a Japanese Language blog, emailed me today with a bit of explanation on Google and Sony.

Although Watanabe is not aware of a publically announced partnership between Google and Sony, he noted that “Sony [has] pre-installed Google Search Toolbar to its VAIO PC’s in Japan for some years.” Besides Google being the default search engine for Sony PSP and VAIO PC’s, many of the Japanese cellular companies use Google search as the default search engine of their i-Mode Internet offerings. KDDI au, a huge Japanese mobile carrier also features Google Search in its commercials of Toshiba’s mobile phone. >

The question is, why is there a delay in announcing Google ??? - Which gets us back to Russell Beattie's earlier thoughts,

“I wonder if there’s a Search Engine out there (Y!, G, AOL, LookSmart? Probably not MSN…) that saw the upcoming release and called Sony and made a deal to get pre-installed on the PSPs"?

THIS would be an ENORMOUS 'feather in Looksmart's cap', but as my headline suggests ......................

............. A "rough" chance at best!!

:)
LC