Coming out to play
Sony Ericsson's highly anticipated Xperia Play handset, formerly known as the PlayStation phone, is set to launch on 31 March and details of various price plans have started to emerge.
It has been known for a while that a PAYG Xperia Play handset will sell for approximately £500, which is obviously a pretty hefty initial outlay, but it will also apparently be available from £24 to £35 a month, depending on the contract.
TechWatch reported that Orange will sell the handset for £100 with a 2 year contract costing £25 a month, including 400 minutes and 300 texts, or 300 minutes, unlimited texts and 500MB of data.
Meanwhile, Vodafone will apparently give customers the Xperia handset for free with a £35 contract lasting for 2 years. For that, consumers will get 600 minutes, 500MB of data and unlimited texts.
And finally, Dial-to-Save said T-Mobile will throw in the handset for free with a £24 a month contract lasting 2 years with 600 minutes, 500MB of data and 500 texts.
According to MVC, Sony will unleash its biggest ever marketing push in the UK in the run-up to the launch and as previously reported, the handsets will be available on every major UK network.
The website said that Sony suggested the handset might also be available at game stores and will come with 6 games pre-installed.
Sony Ericsson marketing director for UK and Ireland David Hilton told the website: "We are currently still in commercial conversation, but I'd be surprised if we didn't see Xperia Play appear in other channels. All the mobile operators and retailers are selling it. It is rare these days to get a product that is sold everywhere, but this is one of those."
