The Wall Street Journal reports that Sony Corp. is feeling threatened by Apple's lineup of portable devices. They're responding by developing new devices of their own, including a smart phone that can play some PlayStation games and a PSP-compatible answer to the iPad.

Sony executive vice president Kazuo Hirai announced last fall that Sony is planning to open their answer to the iTunes Store "early in 2010" as an expansion of the PlayStation Network. They had been considering the name Sony Online Service, but by now someone has probably told the Japanese what S.O.S. means in English. Sony said at the time that they believed their distinctive would the digital content they produced in-house. The new devices are expected to be integrate with this service.

WSJ said that both the new smart phone and the "multifunction device" (what are we going to call things like the iPad, anyway?) are targeted for launch in 2010, but tech specs and pricing aren't yet known. Sony Ericsson could use a new smart phone in their lineup, having seen global shipments fall 41% in 2009. It's likely that it would pull from Sony's catalog of games for the original PlayStation now called the PS One. The new SonyPad (you heard it here first, folks) could also add some oomph to a PSP whose forecast for the year was slashed by Sony last month after years of being trounced by Nintendo. And no doubt Sony is already anticipating iPad's hit on sales of their Sony Reader e-book device.