Investors pushing Nintendo to support Apple's iPhone, iPad
Investors believe Nintendo should bring some of its most popular franchises, like Super Mario, to Apple's iOS platform, as the Japanese company's 3DS portable gaming device struggles against the iPhone.
One fund manager believes Nintendo should abandon its strategy of only releasing titles for its own hardware, and support other platforms, including the iPhone, iPad and Facebook. According to Bloomberg, Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager at Stats Investment Management Co., believes Nintendo should enter the growing smartphone market, which has proved to be a major player in portable gaming.
The report noted that Nintendo stock jumped after it was revealed a Pokemon title was coming to the iPhone and Android. However, those gains disappeared when Nintendo reaffirmed that it does not plan to support competing hardware.
The success of the iPhone was in part to blame for relatively mediocre sales of the newly launched Nintendo 3DS. Responding to the handheld's slow start, Nintendo announced just four months after it launched that it would slash the device's price by $80.
But Nintendo President Satoru Iwata believes the reason the 3DS had a slow start is a lack of hit titles at launch. He has said his company will not support other platforms, even as Nintendo's stock has hit six-year lows.
Nintendo's primary competitors in the console game market, Microsoft and Sony, have their own smartphones that act as portable game devices. Sony has even launched a PlayStation-branded phone, while Microsoft is hoping to leverage its Xbox-related successes on the company's Windows Phone 7 platform.
While competition in the smartphone space continues to grow, Nintendo is resting on about $10 billion in cash and investments, which some investors reportedly think the Japanese company should make better use of. Tokyo-based Commons Asset Management Inc., for example, believes the company should make acquisitions or increase returns to shareholders.
In addition to a price cut on the 3DS, Nintendo is pinning its hopes on a new traditional console set to launch next year, dubbed the Wii U. The successor to the popular Wii console will feature a 6-inch touchscreen controller that has drawn comparisons to Apple's iPad.
One fund manager believes Nintendo should abandon its strategy of only releasing titles for its own hardware, and support other platforms, including the iPhone, iPad and Facebook. According to Bloomberg, Masamitsu Ohki, a fund manager at Stats Investment Management Co., believes Nintendo should enter the growing smartphone market, which has proved to be a major player in portable gaming.
The report noted that Nintendo stock jumped after it was revealed a Pokemon title was coming to the iPhone and Android. However, those gains disappeared when Nintendo reaffirmed that it does not plan to support competing hardware.
The success of the iPhone was in part to blame for relatively mediocre sales of the newly launched Nintendo 3DS. Responding to the handheld's slow start, Nintendo announced just four months after it launched that it would slash the device's price by $80.
But Nintendo President Satoru Iwata believes the reason the 3DS had a slow start is a lack of hit titles at launch. He has said his company will not support other platforms, even as Nintendo's stock has hit six-year lows.
Nintendo's primary competitors in the console game market, Microsoft and Sony, have their own smartphones that act as portable game devices. Sony has even launched a PlayStation-branded phone, while Microsoft is hoping to leverage its Xbox-related successes on the company's Windows Phone 7 platform.
While competition in the smartphone space continues to grow, Nintendo is resting on about $10 billion in cash and investments, which some investors reportedly think the Japanese company should make better use of. Tokyo-based Commons Asset Management Inc., for example, believes the company should make acquisitions or increase returns to shareholders.
In addition to a price cut on the 3DS, Nintendo is pinning its hopes on a new traditional console set to launch next year, dubbed the Wii U. The successor to the popular Wii console will feature a 6-inch touchscreen controller that has drawn comparisons to Apple's iPad.
Comments
One fund manager believes Apple should abandon its strategy of only releasing titles for its own hardware, and support other platforms, including the iPhone, iPad . . .
!!!???
!!!???
I was about to post the same thing. I would LOVE Apple to stop supporting it's own hardware, and spreading the love to other platforms!
Exactly WHO would want a 'Playstation Phone' or 'Wii Phone'?
Want to point me to the massive number of parents who are going to sign up little Timmy for a 2 year phone contract in order to let him play crappy games?
Hard core gamers? Are they that truly addicted to mobile gaming that they'll put their important communications needs into the hands of Nintendo?
Any adult? Seriously a grown up pulling out their Wii phone at a meeting, or to impress a date?
I don't see the market for a phone by a game company.
IF the next iPhone has a directional pad at least then i can see it but only new ups i can see.
I can see nintendo releasing a new ip or two on the iPhone/ipod touch that caters directly to having no buttons BUT I do not see mario or any of those ups on the systems because of the lack of buttons.
IF the next iPhone has a directional pad at least then i can see it but only new ups i can see.
Nintendo Handheld games are too button oriented. They could release an accessory and optional screen buttons I guess.
Seems like a good idea to refocus on smartphones to me. Integrated devices are the future. The iPod is also slowly going away. They could still make their own devices for the disappearing demographic that wants that. I can think of other companies that create dedicated hardware and games: Sega, Atari, etc... It is inevitable that Nintendo's hardware strategy will eventually fail.
Much as I would love to play Super Mario on my phone, this would be an incredibly bad move for Nintendo...
unless they're ready to throw in the towel and become a game design company and start competing against EA and all the other game writers.
the way I see it, this is terrible advice. Nintendo is at heart a hardware company -- they make game consoles.
I would argue quite the opposite. Nintendo is primarily a software company. Their hardware is just a means of selling their software, not the other way around.
For example, look at the top 10 selling games on the Wii. 9 of them are from Nintendo and just one (the 10th!) is from another company.
It's clear that people buy Nintendo hardware primarily to play Nintendo games.
I think Nintendo would be a fantastic purchase for someone like Apple. If they started pumping out games targeted toward iOS and an Apple console it would be a very very big deal.
They'd unlock a lot of value if they did this. Nintendo has to realize that they are addressing only about 10-20% of the gaming market with their current position. Pretty stupid. That's the kind of thing that gets CEOs fired.
Except people who use dedicated games machines play a lot more games (and spend a lot more money on gaming) than the average person. Nintendo might not be addressing the majority of gamers but they are addressing the most valuable gamers.
People buy Nintendo hardware because of Mario and other Nintendo games. By releasing their exclusive titles on other platforms they would be helping to kill their own platforms which would do far more damage to Nintendo's profits than they could hope to gain from releasing an iOS titles.
If Nintendo was willing to sell, Apple would be foolish not to scoop the IP. Theres an immense amount of built-in following/fanbase that would surely follow their beloved characters wherever they go. Also, it's all proprietary and has a history of being held in a garden; perfect fit for Apple.
I wonder how sick an Apple-branded nintendo+pixar game would be?
They make great software to sell their custom hardware.
The best gaming franchises are Nintendo's, and they're (for the most part) created by one man, Shigeru Miyamoto (宮本 茂). Just like Steve and Apple.
Nintendo would do astonishingly well if they created iOS versions of all of their past games, much less created new ones for Apple hardware.
But they won't. They'll stick to their guns until bankruptcy and intellectual property divvying-up between remaining companies.
And I think that's what makes them just like Apple.
I can think of other companies that create dedicated hardware and games: Sega, Atari, etc... It is inevitable that Nintendo's hardware strategy will eventually fail.
But neither Sega or Atari has been particularly successful outside of the hardware business either.
The 3DS is off to a disappointing start and probably won't ever be as popular as the DS was, but with the price cut and with better games approaching, I think it'll gain some sales. Nintendo probably realized that people aren't up for buying expensive devices without decent games ready at launch anymore.
iOS devices have been eating a chunk out of mobile game devices sales and the last Nintendo handheld hasn't been doing too great, and it's also been the victim of a recent heavy price drop. Times are not great for Nintendo, at the moment.
The landscape is changing and mobile game devices are being threatened by the likes of iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads.
Sooner or later, hopefully Nintendo will cave in, set aside their pride for a moment, and announce that Mario is coming to iOS. It would be huge!
the way I see it, this is terrible advice. Nintendo is at heart a hardware company -- they make game consoles. If they started porting their most valuable property to other consoles, it would be the end of their own, particularly when Apple has such a huge head start
Eh? Nintendo a hardware company? Maybe in the past, when they still made hardware that mattered, like the NES and SNES, and to a lesser degree the N64, but after that, Nintendo has always been trailing in hardware, and it sure doesn't seem like that's going to change anytime. What has made Nintendo are their big franchises, supported by great software. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon, etc.
As much as I hate to say it, I think Nintendo *is* going the way of Sega, and will have to transform into a multi-platform software company.
If I was Best Buy, I would be worried. Soon, all gaming consoles and platforms will be going to online sales and distribution.
they just announced a failing "3d" platform
their assests are now in their games, spread them to more "players"
this has been discussed before by many,
move to the true mobile platform--ios
nintendo ds francise is dying or dead
why buy another wii, get a used one and buy an ipad or touch that's the future
for me i won't buy those games anymore, since its easy to lose, and its old tech.