Sony’s Mythical PSPad a Combination of the iPad and PlayStation [Rumor]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Sony's gearing up to take on Apple this year, with the long-awaited PSP phone, a netbook/eBook reader/PSP combo to compete with the iPad.

There aren't extensive details available yet, but we can expect to see the both the PSP phone and the PSPad sometime this year. The PSP phone, in particular, has been in the works since at least 2007, but has met with various delays since then.

As for the multifunction iPad competitor, it's not clear exactly what form that will take. Both devices, though, will leverage Sony's media platform that's launching later this month. The Sony Online Service—a temporary name—is going to provide similar media content as iTunes, but will supplement its offerings with its extensive (and exclusive) catalog of PlayStation games.

The project is apparently being speared by Kunimasa Suzuki, who has an oversight role in both Sony's Vaio and PlayStation businesses. [WSJ]