Rumors about a PSP with phone capabilities started flying around since June. Back then, Sony was discovered to have filed a patent application that featured a PSP with a rotating screen and several extra buttons.

Several months later, the rumor mill is churning at full power once again. Jim Ryan, Sony Computer Entertainment’s co-COO, hinted that such an idea is everything but a distant thought. Ryan told to India’s Economic Times that:

The playstation is a proven success and so is Sony Ericsson. Convergence with the two arms working together is definitely plausible.”

Still, this doesn’t mean that such a device will pop up in stores in the near future. There are numerous issues to be dealt with and some star enhancements to be added, to say the least. The market is still open to hybrid products, but the competition on the handset segment is rather fierce.

On the other hand, at present time i can only imagine how it would feel like to have a nagging girlfriend calling you on your PSP while you’re striving to send the final boss level to digital hell. Hopefully, the “turn phone function off” button will be easy to reach.

Update: Sony just crushed the rumors. The company told CVG that Jim Ryan was actually misquoted by the newspaper and therefore:

"We do have talks with other arms of the Sony family about various topics but I can confirm we are not currently working together on the creation of a PlayStation Phone."