“Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the ‘enemy of the future,'” NewsCore reports.
The company’s recent strategy centered on creating devices aimed not just at children and dedicated — generally male — gamers, but at the whole family. Two years ago, the company claimed it permanently altered the demographics of video games by raising the average age and the gender mix of gamers,” NewsCore reports. “Unfortunately, the very people it claimed as converts — high school girls and men aged between 30 and 40 — reported that they would rather have an iPhone than a DS in their pockets or handbags.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]
Oops, meant to link http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article7118570.ece
It’s like attacking tanks and jets with bows and arrows … the “primitives” win only in american movies
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”smile” style=”border:0;” />)
@breeze
Nah, ChrissyOne is just having trouble typing on her ooh-look-I’m-so-cool BT keyboard and iPad. Sheesh, she should get a ClamCase prototype already. What a tech dinosaur!
@ rhoytink,
“It’s starting to wreak around, someone get a plunger!”
Not wreak but reek. The plunger was a good touch though. The message came across even with the misspelling.
(In response to Apple) “Nintendo is preparing to unleash the full force of its development … artillery … “
“…the hardware and software divisions race to restore the capacity to surprise …”
So, Apple not only produces insanely great products, but Apple also motivates <i>other companies to improve their offerings.
The consumer wins, and wins.
What’s not to love about Apple?
Underestimating your enemy is the first step to your defeat. Nintendo throwing down the gauntlet is good for the industry. Both Apple and Nintendo will have better products as a result of competitiveness.
Sony ignored Apple. See what that got them.
I don’t like Nintendo products, since I’m not a gamer sitting in his mother’s basement eating potato chips. But I mightily respect them to owning up to the fact that Apple is kicking their butt, and they need to fight back.
@auramac
About hate, I have always subscribed to this quote from Hesse,
“If you hate a person, you hate something in him that is part of yourself. What isn’t part of ourselves doesn’t disturb us.”
To the extent that Nintendo hates Apple, it is because it is, imo, jealousy (not fear) that is driving them–they want to be Apple. A small distinction, perhaps.
But what’s not to dislike about my attempts to code?
@Left Coast Dude
My mother-in-law lives in my basement and irons my underwear (seriously, who irons underwear!?). It’s hard to play games with starched creases down there
” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”wink” style=”border:0;” />
You guys bring up some good points. The only way Nintendo can compete (hardware wise) if they were to make a cell phone. No one is going to carry around a cell phone and a Nintendo DS with them all the time.
If Nintendo wants to get into the cell phone business, they need to hurry and outbid HP for Palm. That’s pretty much their only option. And even if they took that route, it’s still pretty risky, and chances of catching up to the iPhone are slim to none.
If Nintendo doesn’t want to miss the new mobile revolution, they should start talking with Apple. Nintendo could sell millions and millions of games on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. That would pretty much destroy their Nintendo DS sales, but it would be in their own best interest.
That’s why Apple is a juggernaut right now, and no one else is competing. Everyone else is afraid of cannibalizing existing business, they are afraid of innovating too much and alienating legacy software. Apple is not afraid and consumers are loving it. Definitely the right business decision, if though it is scary.
@Nicu
Iran sent thousands of children with spears to attack Iraq’s armies of tanks and air force of jets. Tie. Sad.
bring it on !
maybe nintendo can stop ripping apple’s os-x ( panther ) off with their underpowered toy wii’s ui ?
in fact why don’t apple sue them for using it ??
I like the Nintendo DS, but would I carry that extra device around when I have an iPhone? No. Plus, my budget on games is much smaller nowadays, so the most I’ve spent on a game recently was
Street Fighter for $9.99 I think. My 17 year son was still into his handheld games but once he got the iPod Touch and couple of iTunes gift cards last Christmas, the DS and PSP have been sitting in a box collecting dust. I don’t know if Nintendo has to make an all-around device to compete, but they do have to get back to the drawing board.
Mad Macs Beyond ThunderPhone:
Two companies enter, one company leaves…
@Joe Henson
Correct, but there is a Times of London. It’s an honest mistake. Don’t get your panties in a bunch.
This’ll answer all the “Times” name questions:
http://www.ask.com/wiki/The_Times
@NCG598
The other tech companies ALREADY are zombies! Why else are they all following Apple?
Nintendo to employees –
No iPad for you! (or soup)
@JoeBin’s: “I like the Nintendo DS, but would I carry that extra device around when I have an iPhone?”
AND
@Yimmie’s: “The iPhone is a phone first, a gaming platform second and nearly all adults NEED a phone.”
You guys hit it on the head! Apple’s genius with the iPhone was the bait and switch. Everybody wants, maybe even needs a phone–so they bundled their ui genius around that.
and consumers are notorius for “good enough is good enough”.
anyone remember the VHS vs. Beta war?
Beta was better, but VHS was good enough and more convenient.
It’ll be the same deal when Blu-Ray finally dies or is relegated to the bargain bin–it’s better than DVD-5 but DVD 5 is “good enough”.
Why buy a “Game System” when you’ve got a very good game environment right in your phone?
If Nintendo is smart, they’ll bundle a phone into a game system.
Telophony was Apple’s gateway drug.
@Ringgo
Thanks for clearing that up. Some would rather bash Fox News than actually care to investigate, it’s just easier that way. To them, Fox wrote it, therefore it is wrong, full of hate, and most likely a fabricated lie.
For one to win, the other doesn’t have to win.
I am a rabid Apple fan, but others in my household have their own opinions and value for how they choose the products they use.
In my household right now, we have an Apple laptop, an Apple desktop, a Dell desktop, a Dell laptop, an Apple Airpot Base Station, several iPods, two iPhones (buying two more when the new models arrive), a Nintendo 64, Nintendo Wii, so many variations of Nintendo DS/DSi/DSi XL that I don’t even know, PS3, and I’m sure others that I haven’t thought of.
Everyone has different preferences, and although Apple will likely be the clearly dominant force in the end, that doesn’t have to mean that everyone else loses.
Some will definitely lose, but others will adapt.
Go Nintendo! Go Apple!
Whoops. I meant that for one to win, they other doesn’t have to lose.
Huh… That’s weird. Only just a few months ago, when MDN would run a story about Nintendo, a very vocal minority would drone on about how iPhone OS wasn’t a “real” game platform because there were no buttons, and how because of that, Nintendo had nothing to worry about. Now, mere months later, we have the president of Nintendo telling his execs to treat Apple as the ‘enemy of the future.’
Seems as though someone couldn’t grasp the real gravity of the situation…