Sony CEO Howard Stringer recently let Nikkei Electronics Asia on some of Sony's plans for their hardware, including of course the PlayStation 3. One of the most interesting things Stringer mentioned is that Sony is now transitioning from being a closed system to an open one.

A lot of people thought Sony's content download service was doomed, but it's in a pretty good place right now in the form of the PlayStation Network, available to PS3 users for network gaming, video, etc. The DRM is based on Marlin, an open scheme developed by consumer electronics companies and other companies.

What does all this mean? Very simply, it means that Sony has begun the transition from a closed system to an open one.

Stringer also said that expansion to other Sony hardware is definitely in the cards for the PlayStation Network "because the number of PS3 units sold puts a limit on the scale of the network possible." He cautions that this might take a while, though, as Sony's current organizational structure "resists change". Of course, the groundwork has already started as evidenced by the PlayStation Store for PSP.

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