Are iPhone and DS rivals? Nintendo’s president denies it

18th November, 2009 by adina
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Satoru Iawata, the president of Nintendo denied any competition between the DSi LL and the iPhone or iPod and said he uses an iPhone himself. The comparison between the two categories of products has no sense, according to Iawata, as they address different audiences. He added that the DS offer a unique experience and games like Mario for example could not be found on other handhelds.

Iawata agreed with qualifying DS games as more expensive, but outlined that Nintendo can justify the difference and that the company would have nu future if it could not make customers opt for a DS instead of an iPhone or any other high-end device. Nintendo will not simply add, as he said, phone features or 3G data just to compete with such devices because the typical model implies a subscription that is not affordable for children or their parents. At the same time, a business model similar to Amazon Kindle is an option for the future.

Apple showed more aggressive when comparing its iPod touch and iPhone to Nintendo’s handhelds or Sony’s PSP. Apple pointed out the power of its handsets and also that its higher-quality games are costing less than $30 or more charged for console games. Apple also claimed to be the only one of the three above-mentioned to sell the game library online exclusively, as Sony and Nintendo are depending on the retail network.

Analysts say that portable and mobile games are expected to grow to $11.7 billion by 2014. However, they point out that the main beneficiary of this growth is expected to be Apple with its iPhone and iPod Touch products. This is due to the fact that those formats will be scooping 24% of revenue in mobile gaming.


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