iPhone the REAL DS Killer?

From Forbes Magazine online:

Why Apple Could Kill The Nintendo DS
Brian Caulfield, 06.05.08, 6:00 AM ET

BURLINGAME, CALIF - There's only one company on earth that has come back from behind to wrest a multibillion-dollar market away from Sony, beat back a grasping Microsoft and delight tens of millions of customers around the world in the process.

Sorry Apple (nasdaq: AAPL - news - people ) fanboys, we're talking about Nintendo (other-otc: NTDOY.PK - news - people ). The Nintendo Wii has turned the gaming world on its head, with motion-sensitive controls and family-friendly games. The Nintendo DS has had a good run, too, dominating the market for handheld gaming gizmos despite determined assaults by Sony (nyse: SNE - news - people ) and Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ).

You tell us: The iPhone and the iPod Touch combine the touch-sensitive screen of a Nintendo DS with the motion sensitivity of the Nintendo Wii. Now add the ability to pour fresh games into the system at the touch of a button. Will this create a problem for Nintendo in handheld gaming? Let us know in the Reader Comments section below.

Monday, however, Nintendo will likely face a new and far more dangerous foe: Apple. Steve Jobs' computer and gizmo maker will likely launch a long-promised feature, dubbed the App Store, which will let outside developers pour software into the iPhone and iPod Touch. And while it's unlikely that, say, a mobile version of Oracle's (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) wonky database will make anyone stand up and cheer, we already know putting games on the iPhone is a pretty powerful combination.

To be sure, the Nintendo DS won't be an easy kill. First released in 2004, Nintendo freshened the design of the aging system in 2006, with the release of the thinner, lighter DS Lite. Yet developers continue to toil away on ever more sophisticated games for the aging DS, with an ambitious adaptation of "Guitar Hero" in the works and a slick adaptation of the PC strategy series "Age of Empire" already on sale, thanks to the console's sophisticated dual-screen interface. Moreover, Apple has struggled to master gaming on the Mac, with a far wider array of titles available for machines running Microsoft Windows.

Nevertheless, Apple is the first to master a pair of tricks that have made Nintendo's latest products so compelling--a touch-screen interface and the ability to pick up on motion. The key difference: Unlike Nintendo, which has created a gaming console with a motion-sensitive controller and a touch-sensitive handheld gaming system, Apple has crammed both capabilities into its iPhone and iPod Touch.

The ability to pour fresh software into the iPhone, wirelessly, at the touch of a button already has game developers interested. When Apple detailed its software developers kit for the iPhone and iPod Touch earlier this year, one of the most impressive demos was Sega's (other-otc: SEGNF.PK - news - people ) version of "Super Monkey Ball" for the iPhone. Players will be able to maneuver a monkey through a three-dimensional landscape by tilting the iPhone.

The worst sign: Sophisticated games such as Electronic Arts' (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ) ambitious new god-game, "Spore," are already slated to be released for the iPhone at the same time it goes on sale for PCs, Macs and the Nintendo DS. Travis Boatman from EA showed off a project based on Spore that the videogame giant's developers cobbled together in two weeks that took advantage of iPhone's accelerometer and touch-screen interface to guide the evolution of a hungry microorganism.

Looks like the handheld gaming business, so long dominated by Nintendo, could be about to undergo a little evolution too.

Related links:

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/gamesinc/archives/2008/03/iphone_the_dsps.html

http://www.screwattack.com/node/4359

btw- I don't have an iPhone...but I do have a nice Onyx DS Lite. 😄

the DS will still go strong even still.

I would say the PSP might the handheld that can be hurt by iPhone games....The DS is too much of beast right now.

I have both, but I never play my DS, mainly because ill get in trouble at work. But I will start using apps on my phone at work. 😛

But for most, the DS will continue to rule. lol

I have a PSP and a DS, what next iplay, igames?

iPoints (to compete with XBL points) 313

The Nintendo DS has had a good run, too

A good run? The DS has sold over 70 million systems. That's a marathon run!!

And seriously; the iPhone is a DS killer? Wasn't the PSP suppose to be the DS killer?

Originally posted by ESB -1138
[b]Wasn't the PSP suppose to be the DS killer?

I guess thats what they were hoping when it was first introduced. I guess same applied for the PS3 and even the 360 but Nintendo showed them whos the boss!

Havnt we learned yet?

Nintendo is king when it comes to handhelds. How many new fandangeled handhelds have come out and expect to beat up Game Boy, or DS? Alot, and they have all failed.

I expect the same with Iphone.

We heard the same thing every time. Either the opposing devices have better technology, or bigger base, or a ton of cash to back up the device and it all fails.

Nintendo just knows handhelds.

the iPhone it's such a piece of crap, you're better off buying an iPod Touch and a regular phone, it's cheaper that way, and you get a good phone service to boot...

anyways I doubt the iPhone can become a serious handheld console (remember the N-Gage?) the price tag is too high for a regular handheld. I'm surprised they're finally launching the SDK, but a few things have been noted about how much freedom developers actually have (typical).

... Now, what I'm waiting for is Apple trying to get a piece of the gaming business "pie", by launching their very own console

... the iGame... it must be coming soon...

Meh, they wont.

Not a smart business decision. Too much money to produce a console from scratch.

little kids would trade their mothers in for a new version of a handheld nintendo system.

"Little" kids?

****. Peace, ma'.

Originally posted by Smasandian
Havnt we learned yet?

Nintendo is king when it comes to handhelds. How many new fandangeled handhelds have come out and expect to beat up Game Boy, or DS? Alot, and they have all failed.

I expect the same with Iphone.

We heard the same thing every time. Either the opposing devices have better technology, or bigger base, or a ton of cash to back up the device and it all fails.

Nintendo just knows handhelds.

I think the best chance they had was when the original Gameboy was introduced. That thing was like a brick, it hardly had any color and the games sucked(except for Tetris). If they survived that, they'll survive anything.

Besides, I rather buy a PS3 with than an Iphone.

Originally posted by Darth Vicious
I think the best chance they had was when the original Gameboy was introduced. That thing was like a brick, it hardly had any color and the games sucked(except for Tetris). If they survived that, they'll survive anything.

And big thing still beat Sega's Gamegear which had color.

I guess a lot of people have failed to notice what makes a great gaming system; the games. Adds for the PSP have nothing to do with games, adds for the PS3 are leaning towards Blue-Ray, and now here's the iPhone: no games seen besides Super Monkey Ball and now everyone is calling it the DS killer.

Seriously the DS has a huge number of amazing games already and more to come and Nintendo actually puts focus on showing their games in their commericals.

As long as Pokemon exist, the DS will continue to run strong.

Originally posted by ESB -1138
And big thing still beat Sega's Gamegear which had color.

I guess a lot of people have failed to notice what makes a great gaming system; the games. Adds for the PSP have nothing to do with games, adds for the PS3 are leaning towards Blue-Ray, and now here's the iPhone: no games seen besides Super Monkey Ball and now everyone is calling it the DS killer.

Seriously the DS has a huge number of amazing games already and more to come and Nintendo actually puts focus on showing their games in their commericals.

I absolutely love Nintendo Commercials, they're prety well done

... and the only ones calling it the DS killer are business mags that know nothing about games... them and the ocassional iPod/Apple fanboy... let them go play with their iBrick

When it comes to games and games consoles Nintendo know what they are doing, i doubt the Iphone could "kill" them.

But could the iPhone beat the DS as far as PC games? If spore is coming to iPhone...others might follow.

yes it certainly is the catalog of games that measures up to the console, prime example is if we look at the PSP, it is superior to the DS in features but game wise it is lacking, which is one of the main reasons why it is failing to the DS, perhaps if the Iphone does steal some of Nintendo's games it make surpass the DS, however the cost of an iphone to a DS and Nintendo's exclusive catalog of games should be made clear that it would be a tough fight indeed.