In a move that a BusinessWeek article terms as Sony's answer to iTunes, Sony announced at a strategy meeting in Tokyo on Thursday that it is planning a next-year launch of its new online store - the Sony Online Service.

The extensive Sony service will be a cut above the existing stores as it will connect the company's devices as well as the digital content it manufactures, thereby bringing together its diverse hardware parts. As such, the service will sell music, movies, books, and other downloadable content for its electronic devices, including TVs, music players, mobile phones, and computers.

The Sony online store will function on the lines of the company's successful PlayStation Network - which is a free service boasting 33 million registered users who use the network to purchase games for the PS3 and portable PSP console, download movies, and access social networks.

Elaborating about the new service, Kazuo Hirai, Sony's Executive VP for networked products and services, said that the forthcoming store will not merely sell products, but also, via the social networking services, enable people to connect with one another.

Hirai told BusinessWeek: "It's not just access content, stream it, and enjoy. What are your friends watching right now? There's a screen that says all the programming that's available. It highlights all the things that your friends are watching, for example. It's a community experience."