Nintendo Hangs Up on Super Mario Phone

[Tom Goldman]

Nintendo Hangs Up on Super Mario Phone

Despite Apple and two-thirds of the big three creating their own gaming phones, Nintendo is sticking to the DS as its only portable device.

It'd be really cool to talk into Mario's shoes and listen to friends through his mustache, but Nintendo squashed any dreams of a future Nintendo phone this week. It'll be the only company on the block not in the cellphone space, with Microsoft PlayStation phone [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104270-Microsoft-Xbox-Phone-Launch-Bigger-Than-Xbox-360s] evidently coming to life, and Apple's iPhone already taking over the world.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime recently talked to Forbes about Sony and Microsoft jumping into the cellphone market, and emphasized that Nintendo also dipping its feet in wouldn't make much sense. He pointed out that the DS already allows for voice chat in certain games, so the handheld already has the partial functionality of a phone.

Nintendo's aim is to create a gaming device that can perform multiple other functions, such as becoming a shopping assistant [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/104450-Nintendo-Wants-DS-to-Become-Interactive-Grocery-Helper], rather than a phone that can also play games. Fils-Aime said that Nintendo will keep adding unique features to "take away more and more time from competing devices," but Nintendo's handhelds will "always lead with games."

He also puts the upcoming Nintendo 3DS above the average smartphone thanks to its 3D display. "3DS content will be dramatically unique to our platform, because I don't think a smartphone manufacturer will invest to put a 3D parallax screen in their device and not have the content to bring it to life," Fils-Aime added.

Thanks to the gaming capabilities of the iPhone and iPad, Nintendo has called Apple the "enemy of the future [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100548-Nintendo-Defeats-Sony-Apple-is-Enemy-of-the-Future]." However, rather than slapping Mario's face on a phone to compete, Fils-Aime says Nintendo's content will give the company a "long-term competitive advantage" over products such as these.

Nintendo's philosophy has traditionally been only about creating gaming consoles, even skipping out on putting a DVD player in the Wii as was standard in competitor's consoles. Nintendo appears to run its own race, rather than jump in on what other companies see as the future. There's something about the allure of Nintendo as a hardware manufacturer that makes me want to see what kind of phone Nintendo would be able to put together, but I also think it's pretty smart for the house of Mario to stick to what it knows.

Source: Forbes [http://blogs.forbes.com/oliverchiang/2010/10/28/apple-microsoft-and-sony-are-making-game-ready-smartphones-will-nintendo-not-likely-nintendo-president-says/]

Permalink

 

[Rorschach II]

Meh, Nintendo already dominates the market. A phone is probably the last thing on their mind.

 

[Manicotti]

Sounds reasonable to me.

 

[ANImaniac89]

Good I'm glad to see at least one of the major gaming company's is content with not diluting its products just to hop on the trendy bandwagon of cheaply made yet overpriced smart phones that only play watered down apps that wouldn't even hold a candle to even the most basic demo of a full game.

Good for you Nintendo

 

[JediMB]

Have to say that it would be cool if a future DS product also had smartphone functionality. But that should always be an extra, and not the primary focus. As happy as I am with my Xperia X10, it's not exactly an ideal gaming device.

 

[Delusibeta]

Nintendo does what it knows best: video games (and cards). Last time they tried to diversify, they wound up nearly broke, and were it not for Gunpei Yokoi (who nudged them towards firstly the toy industry, and secondly electonic games and the arcades) and Shigeru Miyamoto (who designed Donkey Kong, Nintendo's big break in the arcade industry), they would probably have went out of business in the sixties.

 

[SimuLord]

The iPhone: There's some crapp for that.

Good on you, Nintendo, for making devices that do what they were intended to do and don't get overambitious trying to offer features more or less solely to pad out the bullet list on the box.

You just know the engineers are whispering "fuck you" under their breath at the assholes in marketing every time they have to implement some new feature that was suggested by the CMO's six-year-old or his ditz of a trophy wife.

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I applaud Nintendo for not conforming to the trendy hipster crowd. Even though Microsoft and Sony already compete in the electronic devices market as well as the gaming industry, they still see a need to try and dominate one another. Oh competition amongst business is a fickle thing.

 

[Covarr]

You can't really compare Nintendo to MS and Sony in this case, since MS was ALREADY making Windows for phones, and Sony was ALREADY making phones. They're not breaking into new markets here. Sony is kinda toying with mixing them, but that's it. For Nintendo to make a phone would be a complete departure from their current product line.

P.S. Thanks

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

Fair enough. I can't see a Nintendo phone being very good anyway, to be honest.

 

[Danzaivar]

Nintendo are the Apple of the gaming industry, rather than try compete with other companies they just do their own thing and then let everyone else play catch up while they think up the next thing to do.

Glad to see them keeping true to form.

 

[RatRace123]

Reggie does have a point, Nintendo has, does and probably will continue to absolutely kill every other handheld competitor.
They don't need their next DS to be able to make calls in order for that to happen either.

 

[Tom Goldman]

You can't really compare Nintendo to MS and Sony in this case, since MS was ALREADY making Windows for phones, and Sony was ALREADY making phones. They're not breaking into new markets here. Sony is kinda toying with mixing them, but that's it. For Nintendo to make a phone would be a complete departure from their current product line.

P.S. Thanks

Actually, you can compare them. Windows Phone 7 has functionality that directly ties it into Xbox Live, while cellphone gaming is more of a focus for Microsoft than ever before. The PlayStation phone looks like it'll be basically a PlayStation controller melded with a phone. These are being created as way closer to true gaming platforms than the phones we've seen in the past. Cellphone gaming is big, and it wouldn't be crazy for Nintendo to try to tap into cellphone gaming with its own gaming/phone hardware, though the markets are inherently different.

 

[mikecoulter]

Good. I think some companies should concentrate more on their core business model and less on expansion.

 

[Twilight.falls]

Glad to hear that Nintendo will try to remain on top with video games.

 

[Tim Latshaw]

Nintendo has pretty much roped itself off as a games company on the whole instead of a multimedia company like Sony, Microsoft or Apple, and I think that's wise. For as much as some people complain about how much Nintendo seems to lean on their franchises, they're rock solid and they sell. Why would they want to dilute their image?

 

[Covarr]

You can't really compare Nintendo to MS and Sony in this case, since MS was ALREADY making Windows for phones, and Sony was ALREADY making phones. They're not breaking into new markets here. Sony is kinda toying with mixing them, but that's it. For Nintendo to make a phone would be a complete departure from their current product line.

P.S. Thanks

Actually, you can compare them. Windows Phone 7 has functionality that directly ties it into Xbox Live, while cellphone gaming is more of a focus for Microsoft than ever before. The PlayStation phone looks like it'll be basically a PlayStation controller melded with a phone. These are being created as way closer to true gaming platforms than the phones we've seen in the past. Cellphone gaming is big, and it wouldn't be crazy for Nintendo to try to tap into cellphone gaming with its own gaming/phone hardware, though the markets are inherently different.

I see where you're coming from, and you have valid arguments, but you've missed my point. Neither Sony nor Microsoft is entering a new market, since they have both already done phones AND gaming for years, all they're doing now is fusing the two. Nintendo, on the other hand, has never done a phone, so the barrier of entry into the market (both financial and experience-wise) is MUCH greater.

P.S. Thanks

 

[BrunDeign]

When Theodore Roosevelt created his own party to compete in the next election, he took enough votes from one of the other parties to let a third party win.

This is one of the reasons I see for Nintendo not making a phone. Apple is probably going to stay at the top of the hill no matter what while Sony and Microsoft are just hurting everyone (except Nintendo) by making their own phones. They won't sell as well as the Iphone but enough to hurt Apple's sales to an extent. They probably won't sell enough to make that much money back. The aforementioned hurting of Apple's sales will help give Nintendo an even better hold on the handheld gaming market.

 

[tehweave]

Sounds reasonable to me.

Yeah. This.

Frankly, I respect nintendo for this decision. They don't need to tread waters they can't handle, and a phone would probably complicate things for the company. The DS is a fine device with fun games, and works for them right now. Kudos, Nintendo.

 

[Tom Goldman]

You can't really compare Nintendo to MS and Sony in this case, since MS was ALREADY making Windows for phones, and Sony was ALREADY making phones. They're not breaking into new markets here. Sony is kinda toying with mixing them, but that's it. For Nintendo to make a phone would be a complete departure from their current product line.

P.S. Thanks

Actually, you can compare them. Windows Phone 7 has functionality that directly ties it into Xbox Live, while cellphone gaming is more of a focus for Microsoft than ever before. The PlayStation phone looks like it'll be basically a PlayStation controller melded with a phone. These are being created as way closer to true gaming platforms than the phones we've seen in the past. Cellphone gaming is big, and it wouldn't be crazy for Nintendo to try to tap into cellphone gaming with its own gaming/phone hardware, though the markets are inherently different.

I see where you're coming from, and you have valid arguments, but you've missed my point. Neither Sony nor Microsoft is entering a new market, since they have both already done phones AND gaming for years, all they're doing now is fusing the two. Nintendo, on the other hand, has never done a phone, so the barrier of entry into the market (both financial and experience-wise) is MUCH greater.

P.S. Thanks

Definitely true... I just like to fantasize about a phone shaped like Mario.