Sony Lifestyle has announced a new Wifi instant messaging device called "Mylo" short for "MyLife Online"  the device taps Wifi hotspots with WEP and WPA encryption and boasts a full QWERTY keyboard with a 3.4 inch 320 x 240 LCD making for a visually pleasing device slighly smaller than T-Mobiles Sidekick. Surprisingly, AIM and MSN chatting are not supported, but Skype and Google Voice are along with Yahoo Messenger. So what's going on here we wonder? 

Quite simply, according to WifiPlanet, Sony is simply trying to re-enter the handheld market after the Clie line folder a few years ago They point to obvious similarities between Mylo and some other leading handhelds. For example, messaging and Wifi can also be found on the Nokia 770 mini and whle the Sidekick is a full featured phone with limited messaging capabilities, Mylo is everything but a cellphone yet geared towards the same demographic.

Certainly  being WiFI compatible and with almost one gig (1 GB) of onboard memory the device does have the potential to become a mobile blogging platform.  

However Phil Wolf at Skype Journal was not impressed saying the Mylo suffers from "Sidekick Syndrome" he compiled an extensive list of potential shortcomings with the device and recommended some improvements starting with:

• Add a good still and video camera. We're sharing our work and our lives. I want this to replace my mobile camera phone, but you are betting it won't, at least for now. Please try! 
• Add audio, video and photo recording software. Surely Adobe is ready to come out with pocket versions of ImageReady, Audition and Premiere.
• Add authoring (or at least uploading) tools for blogs, vlogs and podcasts. A browser can only do so much, even with Web 2.0 goodies.
• Publish developer tools and seed an open ecosystem. I want to code rich clients (feedreader, please) to run on Mylo, especially apps that work offline.
• Open the device to third-party apps, without prior Sony approval. So I can buy Mylo editions of Quicken, Flight Simulator, QQ, and embedded Firefox (with extensions). It's much easier to be closed, but a Sony bizdev tax is a barrier to user adoption.
• See full list
  

Phil also concluses that perhaps Mylo is a test platform for Sony's eventual development of a competetive handheld. Globe and Mail backs him up by suggesting Sony may simply think that "e-mail is passe" with IM leading the future although even they feel Mylo is going to have a hard time breaking out of a niche and relatively overcrowded market.

As it stands, we have an expensive messaging device, which rightly or wrongly ignores two of the worlds most popular instant messaging systems, does not support video games and is largely geared towards people who already own cellphones. Is Sony incorrectly placing all its eggs in the Skype and Wifi basket or is there some greater strategy at work? Let's get back to this in about six months. Meanwhile if you do buy one, please share your experiences here. 

Via Gizmodo

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