Sony of Japan and AOL Time Warner are joining forces to create a new "home broadband networking environment" that will connect a wide range of consumer devices together in home networks.

The deal, announced by Sony's president, Kunitake Ando, at the Comdex computer trade show yesterday, could enable consumers to link together games consoles, TV sets, personal computers, mobile phones, camcorders, Sony's Aibo robotic dog, and Dick Tracy-style wristwatch communicators.

Mr Ando said he could foresee wireless internet connections eventually becoming a standard feature of all Sony products.

"We believe in wireless broadband," he said. Sony has been talking about home entertainment networks for several years without delivering much of practical value.

With the use of high-speed "Wi-Fi" wireless networking growing explosively in the PC market, Sony risks being left behind.

The agreement with AOL Time Warner is intended to make wireless home networking extremely easy for consumers to set up and use.

Steve Case, chairman of AOL Time Warner, appeared on video during Mr Ando's speech to say that it was "still too difficult for people to connect the dots by themselves".

Their goal was to make it "as easy as plugging in your toaster", he said.

The agreement involves the development of a small, fast web browser suitable for consumer electronics devices, and "the joint exploration" of ways that AOL - America's largest internet service provider - could connect Sony devices to the internet.

However, both companies declined to give any technical details, and Mr Ando's demonstrations were showy but unconvincing.

For example, he appeared to send a live video image from his watch to a PC screen by moving the watch close to the screen, but wireless networks work perfectly well when devices are 100 metres apart.

He also announced an agreement with Nokia to collaborate on developing what he called "an open middleware platform".

The intention is for Nokia and Sony products to work together seamlessly.

At a press conference following his speech, Mr Ando conceded that the desire to develop open systems with Nokia and America Online went against Sony's often proprietary approach.

The company's "not invented here" attitude had sometimes led it to develop niche products "instead of being in the mainstream", he said. "We've changed our attitude 100% - by 180 degrees, actually."

Bill Raduchel, AOL's chief technology officer, said results of the firms' collaboration would be available in "not days but not years," or perhaps a small number of years.

Speaking privately, he said he was unable to provide any technical guidelines but would wait to see what the engineers came up with.

He could not say if Sun's Java language would be used, though it was designed for this sort of application, and he had promoted Java heavily during his previous employment at Sun Microsystems.

Mr Ando also rejected the idea that his strategic alliance with AOL represented an anti-Microsoft coalition.

Sony has become one of Japan's largest PC manufacturers, and Mr Ando said they had "a great relationship with Microsoft".

Sony "was really promoting and supporting Windows XP", though they were also competing in the games market, where Microsoft's Xbox is taking on Sony's PlayStation 2.

Sony also produces content such as movies and music where it competes strongly against AOL Time Warner.

· Jack Schofield is the Guardian's computer editor.