Sony doesn't like losing. That's why the company has decided to go all in and bring a real "PlayStation" phone to market. According to those in the know, the smartphone from Sony will be able to access downloadable games, movies and music, just like the iPhone.Sony and its joint venture with Ericsson -- Sony Ericsson -- need desperately to get back into the smartphone game. Sony Ericsson has offered Symbian-based smartphones for years, but none of them have been best sellers. Sony Ericsson eventually turned to Windows Mobile -- and more recently, Android -- to battle the growing number of competitors in the space. So far, it hasn't really worked out.

That's why, according to the Wall Street Journal, Sony has decided to pull out the big guns and bring its PlayStation brand to the smartphone space.

Apple's success in turning the iPhone (and iPod Touch) into an incredible mobile gaming platform is well documented. The number of games available for the platform numbers well into the tens of thousands. Even though Sony offers a healthy amount of content through its GetJar-powered PlayNow Arena, its numbers aren't matching those of competitor Apple (which just recently reached the 10 billionth download).

Sony's original PlayStation and PS2 are monolithic icons in the gaming world. Things haven't been as rosy for the PlayStation3, but it's still a solid console and hasn't diluted the PlayStation brand equity (too much). Hence, Sony believes that offering a PlayStation device is the answer to all its prayers.

The Journal, citing sources "familiar with the matter," notes that the device will be able to seamlessly download content from the Sony Online Store. Similar to the iTunes Store, that will include games, movies, TV shows, music and so on. Sony will make the gaming titles that were available to the original PlayStation console available to this unnamed wonder-device. Will that be enough to appease the mobile gaming masses? Hard to say. Especially with game makers such as Valve teasing that they're going to port their titles to the iPhone platform.

Perhaps the most interesting piece of information noted by the Journal is that Sony is going to play a much more active role in designing this phone. Sony Ericsson will be the main entity to develop it and bring it to market, but Sony wants its hands in the pie. That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. It's not that unexpected, though, considering that "PlayStation" is its brand, and not Ericsson's.

The Journal's sources say that this device will hit the market later this year, but more specifics weren't provided.