Vita faces up-hill battle

   Sony announced the pricing for Vita today, and all I can say is, ouch.
The Wi-Fi only model will launch at a hefty £229.99, with the 3G model coming in at an eye-bulging £279.99.

Britain's piss-poor exchange rate and extortionately high VAT won't have helped the matter, but it's still a hefty price point that is sure to price Vita out of a shifting market. Shifting in the sense that handheld console’s in general are becoming more and more insignificant with the booming smartphone and tablet markets.

Not many people in the industry doubted that Nintendo would continue to dominate the handheld space with the 3DS, but so far it has failed to ignite public interest in the same way that the DS did.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly why this is the case, and it is more likely due to the culmination of several factors.

The launch line-up was nothing short of shocking, the marketing was appalling as I believe a large number of people had no idea the 3DS was an all-new console. The initial marketing campaign didn't make it entirely clear, and the casual, un-informed audience believed the console was simply a DS with 3D capabilities.

The negative press didn't help matters, but whether exaggerated or not the fact remains that some people cannot play the machine without feeling nauseous. That was never going to end well.

Another huge factor I believe was the high pricing which at launch was around £200-£230, resulting in what can only be described as a disastrous launch, with Nintendo embarrassingly slashing the price just four months after its initial release.

Regardless off the technology, £200+ is a lot of money for a handheld machine that is primarily used for gaming. It’s not just Nintendo, Sony are competing with neither. Whether you consider them a direct competitor or not, Apple are must be considered a serious threat to the Japanese giants.

Apple’s growing dominance certainly doesn’t look like stalling any-time soon. The iPhone might not be a direct competitor in the truest sense, but in the space of just a couple of years it has become respected platform, and the iPad is heading in the same direction.

One thing is certain, the handheld landscape is changing, and Sony face will face a stiff challenge in convincing Joe public that Vita is worth their hard-earned cash.

Sony said they had learnt lessons from the PS3 launch, but today’s price announcement indicates that they clearly haven’t.