Sony has confirmed that it is launching a new section of the PlayStation Store to offset the growing threat posed by the iPhone. Well, they didn’t put it quite like that...

But we see no other reason why Sony would want to enlist over 50 game development studios, each tasked with coming up with pocket money-priced games and applications for download to the PlayStation Portable.

As you might expect from Sony, actual games/app specifics are scant at the moment. That said it’s understood that Subatomic Studios is already working up a PSP version of its ace tower defend ‘em up, Fieldrunners. That’ll doubtless be an insta-buy when it launches, although the interface might not be as instinctive as its iPhone forebear.

Otherwise Sony is apparently easing the whole process of creating and publishing these new games. The concept approval stage has been ditched, the development tools cheapened and the QA phase shortened. The games/apps are small in size too – typically 20MB – meaning they’ll be super quick to download. Moreover, they’ll cost a fraction of the price of a normal PSP game, making them eminently “snackable”, as Subatomic’s Ash Monif cleverly puts it.

All told it sounds like a splendid plan to us, even it’s a shameless copy of Apple’s idea. More soon.