What PlayStation Vita Can Learn From Kindle

I’ve been traveling internationally quite a bit over the last two months, and I’ve had the unlikeliest of indispensable companions: Kindle.
I brought Amazon’s e-book reader along for a trip to Europe in August just to have something to do on the plane. While I was there, I thought to myself: Hey, I’m not paying anything for this thing’s 3G service. What about when I’m traveling abroad?
As it turns out, 3G-equipped Kindles can access the virtual bookstore in many different countries with no fee. I could also use the experimental web browser, which makes Kindle a pretty invaluable companion for the international traveler who wants to check email and Twitter without paying exorbitant data-roaming prices.
During my Kindle-enhanced globetrotting, I went to Sony’s PlayStation Vita press conference in Tokyo, where it announced that the 3G version of its upcoming portable game system would have pay-as-you-go data plans in Japan. Gamers there can pay about $10 for 20 hours of 3G gameplay or $50 for 100 hours.
Of course, this price difference is explained by the fact that playing Vita games over wireless networks will take up exponentially more data than sending a few kilobytes of text and black-and-white JPGs to a Kindle.
But if Sony wants to really sell downloadable games on Vita, it may want to find a way to let players idly browse its virtual store without worrying that they’re wasting those precious prepaid minutes.