Andrew House, president of SCEE, has stated that Sony's newly announced 3G capable device will actually have the option of forgoing said 3G. While Wi-Fi has been confirmed for all of the devices, there will be multiple SKUs, a few of which will not have 3G.
Speaking to Eurogamer, House states, “The first thing to clarify, which I'm not sure the presentation did a perfect job of doing today, is that all of the devices will have Wi-Fi capability; a separate SKU will have 3G.”
How much it'll cost users to use the 3G network is still being figured out, but Sony's "working hard" on regional partnerships and pricing for 3G, the company noted.
"So the user gets a choice. Wi-Fi is available wherever, which clearly is the most important aspect of connectivity and that connected experience; 3G will be a subset of that," House continued.
Sony is working diligently to ensure that the device is priced within a respectable area in the mobile market, and allowing for options is certainly on the right path. With analyst predictions floating around $249-$299, perhaps it could be both?