Sony PSP Off to a Slow Start

Everyone—including us at Connected Home Media—expected Sony's exciting PlayStation Portable (PSP) to fly off store shelves the moment it hit the crucial North American market. But a funny thing happened. Although PSP sales have been respectable in its first week of availability here, they're not nearly as high as expected. More important, perhaps, the PSP isn't even sold out yet: You can still pick up the device at Amazon.com and brick-and-mortar retailers such as Sony Style (if you're lucky enough to have one in your city). According to AmTech, Sony sold roughly 500,000 PSPs in the first week—about half the expected number. Meanwhile, the PSP's closest competitor, the kid-friendly (and less powerful) Nintendo Dual Screen (DS), is still doing great after selling an identical number of copies in its first week of sales last fall. Sony's slow start doesn't suggest that the PSP is doomed, but this was supposed to be the next Apple iPod, not the next Coleco ADAM