Should Sony and Nintendo Fear the iPhone?

[John Funk]

Should Sony and Nintendo Fear the iPhone?

EA founder Trip Hawkins thinks that the success of the iPhone and iPod Touch as gaming devices is making the competition start to sweat.

You know what? I'm going to come right out and say it: I don't get the iPhone. Sure, it can do some cool things; I'm not going to deny that. But at the end of the day, it's just a phone - a horribly overpriced phone at that. I will never understand the slavish devotion that the iCult has to all things Apple.

However, even if I personally don't get the fuss, that doesn't mean that the iPhone hasn't been establishing itself as a legitimate gaming platform lately - because it has. After Metal Gear Solid Touch, Hideo Kojima expressed a desire to get App Store [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90576-Kojima-Wants-To-Get-Crazy-With-iPhone] left and right.

One of the developers who has found success with the iPhone is Digital Chocolate, helmed and founded by Trip Hawkins - the man who founded a little studio called Electronic Arts back in '82. Speaking to VentureBeat [http://venturebeat.com/2009/04/14/late-to-the-iphone-trip-hawkins-digital-chocolate-falls-in-love-with-it/], Hawkins said that Digital Chocolate's iPhone successes took him by surprise:

[blockquote]"The iPhone for us was a spectacularly pleasant surprise. We had no idea it was going to be as good for us as it turned out to be ... It's by far our most effective platform. We make as much money with these games on one device as we do putting a game on 100 different cell phone platforms."[/blockquote]

Hawkins thinks that the iPhone frenzy should be making fellow handheld makers Sony and Nintendo rather nervous about this surprising and unexpected new competitor: "Between the iPod Touch and the iPhone, I think the platform is freaking out Sony and Nintendo. Apple has sold 30 million units so far and it has created tremendous awareness. It has taken ground all over the world. But it has only penetrated one half of one percent of its total market."

I don't think anyone would disagree with Hawkins' claims that the iPhone has shown itself to be a legitimate mobile games platform, but I'm not quite sure that Sony and Nintendo have any reason to panic just yet. After all, with the iPhone's hefty price tag (and focus on other features), it's hard to imagine anyone buying it just to play games. However, it might be enough to make iPhone owners who might have otherwise purchased a DS or PSP change their minds.

(Via GI.biz [http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/iphone-success-freaking-out-sony-and-nintendo-hawkins])

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[oliveira8]

But the iPhone is horrible...

 

[bue519]

Wow who knew that the powerhouse of this console generation would be the Iphone.

 

[razer17]

although the ipod touch games are fun, they are nothing more than a distraction. i couldnt play it for hours like i could DS or PSP. there good for "im on the bus for five minutes, and im bored" situations

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

 

[Kojiro ftt]

Yeah I agree with Razer17 about the games.

But I do get the iPhone. If you are sick of shitty mobile phones with shitty user interfaces, then the iPhone is a breath of fresh air. And it doesn't cost that much. A refurb is even $100 with a contract. I paid $80 for my Sony Ericsson W810i, and it is a major POS. The thing isn't even a good MP3 player, and they advertise it as a Walkman.

 

[PayNSprayBandit]

Let me start by saying that I am not a fan of mac, never have been. My first computer was an Apple and it didn't run Starcraft. And so began a long relationship of hate between us. That said, I love my iPhone to death. I got the 3G, it's the first thing I've bought from Apple since the 90's and it's awesome. It's like the Batcomputer, portable edition. When I was 8 I asked my parents for a portable radio that had in it everything electronic that I could name, they looked at me like I was out of my mind. Who would make such a thing? Well, after more than a decade, I found out the answer. Apple.

 

[Kojiro ftt]

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

iPod and Mac are fads? For technological devices, they are practically immovable mountains in the market. Apple has a stranglehold with the iPod since 2001, and the Mac is the only computer you will ever touch in any graphic design or art related industry for the past 15+ years. I'd hardly call those fads.

 

[megapenguinx]

I don't think Sony or Nintendo really have anything to worry about.

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

iPod and Mac are fads? For technological devices, they are practically immovable mountains in the market. Apple has a stranglehold with the iPod since 2001, and the Mac is the only computer you will ever touch in any graphic design or art related industry for the past 15+ years. I'd hardly call those fads.

You pay tons for an underpowered machine and an apple logo.
The OS is hardly worth it. And with that said I am done, I'm not turning this into the engadget forums.

 

[Tech Team FTW!]

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

iPod and Mac are fads? For technological devices, they are practically immovable mountains in the market. Apple has a stranglehold with the iPod since 2001, and the Mac is the only computer you will ever touch in any graphic design or art related industry for the past 15+ years. I'd hardly call those fads.

What I meant was, they take a minor advance in technology and sensationalise it.

As a semi-professional artist I disagree, I rarely use Macs because the user interface is so unintuitive.

 

[chimmers]

Some games work well on the platform. I have an iPod touch and I play Wolfenstein 3D a lot, as well as Katamari. If more games come out (Audiosurf especially) then I'll buy them and I'm sure many others will. Hoping for some more good, cheap (relatively) games

 

[DigitalSushi]

But the iPhone is horrible...

No it is not!.

I have one, and I dont get the hate, its the finest phone I've ever had.
The gaming part is just a sub menu.

For a phone, gaming platform (sniggers), and mp3 player its quite well priced.

 

[DigitalSushi]

You know what's better than the iPhone?
Everything.

Not because the phone itself is bad, but because of the aforementioned "iCult."

OK i concede this point, being on a train and having a mac enthusiast trying to talk to me simply because I have an iPhone is an exercise in soul crushing.

 

[DigitalSushi]

I don't think Sony or Nintendo really have anything to worry about.

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

iPod and Mac are fads? For technological devices, they are practically immovable mountains in the market. Apple has a stranglehold with the iPod since 2001, and the Mac is the only computer you will ever touch in any graphic design or art related industry for the past 15+ years. I'd hardly call those fads.

You pay tons for an underpowered machine and an apple logo.
The OS is hardly worth it. And with that said I am done, I'm not turning this into the engadget forums.

Underpowered?, since when?
the processor is locked out to 600mhz, guess what the DS and PSP processors are maxed out at?

OH DEAR GOD... i'm turning into one of them

 

[Daveman]

I got an iphone 3 weeks ago. It's been working perfectly until today when it decided I wasn't allowed to navigate back to my main page. I'm still trying to fix it. I REGRET NOTHING.
I'd just say I'm not an apple fanboy but this is something they do well. Games on it are epic.

 

[megapenguinx]

I don't think Sony or Nintendo really have anything to worry about.

I doubt the iPhone will be any more than a fad...
Like the iPod, the Mac and everthing else made by Apple

iPod and Mac are fads? For technological devices, they are practically immovable mountains in the market. Apple has a stranglehold with the iPod since 2001, and the Mac is the only computer you will ever touch in any graphic design or art related industry for the past 15+ years. I'd hardly call those fads.

You pay tons for an underpowered machine and an apple logo.
The OS is hardly worth it. And with that said I am done, I'm not turning this into the engadget forums.

Underpowered?, since when?
the processor is locked out to 600mhz, guess what the DS and PSP processors are maxed out at?

OH DEAR GOD... i'm turning into one of them

Oh I wasn't talking about the iPhone. I was talking about their computers and iPods (not the touch ones).

 

[AceDiamond]

So far the iPhone has only proven to work in terms of small, independent developers. Hence why Apple will soon be segregating content made by big industry into a "Premium Store" where the latte-swigging public will be able to pay $20 much easier on products made by EA and so forth, rather than supporting the little guy.

I'm doubting that Nintendo is really that worried. Sony? maybe. But we have to remember the DS has pretty much been printing money.

And that Nintendo is 10-0 in the portables market.

Of course, I could be talking out my ass even though the developer of Fieldrunners pretty much said that first-party developers were having a difficult time selling games on the iPhone. However, having no iPhone or iTouch or iFondle or whatever, I'd have to run this by the people I know who do own iPhones and see how many of them are concentrated on using them for gaming. Given how most of them are just using it to stay connected with their various workgroups, I would say gaming is not a big concern of theirs.

And I still don't see the iPhone being a gaming powerhouse because of its inability to deliver reliable online play. AT&T's network is too iffy and I definetely don't see how multiplayer against competing wireless networks would work.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

I like my keypad on my LG Voyager, thank you very much. It has a touch screen as well if I ever feel like I want to make some sort of...tech-fashion statement. Which is never.