Sony Considering "Commerical" Applications For Distributed Platform

After the success of of Folding@Home on the PS3, Sony is trying to get commercial partners involved in similar projects using the PS3.

'This kind of computing model could be used in a commercial application...for example, a start-up or a pharmaceutical company that lacks a super-computer could utilise this kind of infrastructure. We are discussing various options with companies and exploring commercial applications,'

Folding works because it's for a good, non-profit cause. But if people are making money off of me paying the bills, well, I'm going to need to be compensated. I shouldn't have to pick up all the bills for some pharmaceutical company. If they want a super computer, Sony can sell them the CPU time, which no longer belongs to them. So, obviously there has to be some incentive to get users to run the application.

One scenario, he said, would be for a company to offer each of its PS3 users incentives such as free products, or points, in exchange for their participation in distributed computing.

I like the idea of giving things to PS3 owners who take part, but I don't like how he states "one scenario". What are the other scenarios? Lying to users to get them to run it thinking it's another F@H?

Full story at Forbes.

Thanks to Kotaku for the link.