Might the Playstation Phone be marketed under the Xperia brand instead

A handful of new PlayStation Phone rumors surfaced this week, adding to a long list of unconfirmed reports surrounding the device.

The latest gossip concerns the smartphone's eventual name. According to information uncovered by Pocket-Now, Sony Ericsson has registered for trademarks on Xperia Play, Xperia Neo, Xperia Duo, and Xperia Arc. It's possible that the Xperia Play could refer to the device itself or an umbrella of services related to the phone.

The Unofficial Xperia X10 blog also discovered that a Sony Ericsson PR firm had registered the XperiaPlay.com, XperiaPlay.net, and XperiaPlay.org domain names. Again, it could be specific to the device, or it could be part of a user experience or portal.

It's unknown when we'll actually see the handset, though a Mobile World Congress debut looks to be the most likely scenario. Indeed, we've heard from Sony Ericsson representatives that the company plans to make a big splash at the annual event, hinting at their "most anticipated presentation of the last 10 years." This matches up with details provided by a Pocket-Lint source, which suggests that the phone will arrive in shops in April, following a February launch.

I don't know about you, but I think the phone would sell much better under PlayStation branding. The Xperia name hasn't made much of an impact yet, especially in the United States.