Comments on: Is There Any Demand For a True Gaming Phone?

By: Colin Gibbs

Colin Gibbs — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:43:30 +0000

@Pierre-Marie — I agree, a true gaming phone would have to offer more sophisticated controls and perhaps a bigger screen than the iPhone. A larger device surely would lose some mainstream appeal but could be very attractive to fans of the twitch-type games we’re used to on consoles.

@Mike — I think taking a page from Apple’s playbook and offering a voice-enabled version as well as a non-phone is a great idea. And the first player to do it would have a great advantage.

By: Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:41:48 +0000

@sergio – So – when does the betting pool start for arrival date of the Nintendo-phone?

Seriously – the next-gen portable from Nintendo will have mobile broadband, if not be a phone. I can see them taking the Apple strategy of doing both a non-phone (the Touch) and a phone for teen and older. I think the phone would be a huge seller, while they could sell the Nintendo “Touch” to young children and tweeners and those older folks who were happy with their existing phone.

By: sergiovizzari

sergiovizzari — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:17:49 +0000

I agree here with Micheal, Nintendo has a great chance. They’ve been able to sell (little) even such a poor upgrade as DSi, this shows anyway the grip they have on their fan base.

By: Michael Wolf

Michael Wolf — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 14:31:30 +0000

We won’t know if there is a market for a gaming phone until a true gaming/console company produces one. Nokia was (and is not) a gaming company, but Sony and Nintendo (and Microsoft) are. Each of these brands have tens of millions of loyal users who are tied to both the company’s hardware as well as the exclusives on the device.

I actually think the company that could surprise everyone here is Nintendo. They are similar to Apple in terms of a hugely dedicated and loyal fanbase and they know how to do elegant and innovative hardware. If they did a game phone, it would sell in the tens of millions in Japan alone, and then they could try and make a market in the U.S. and Europe markets by providing young phone users with a fun and user-friendly game phone.

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:13:14 +0000

I’m not sure a dedicated gaming phone would find a market. Nokia jumped into this segment with the N-Gage on-phone games and online market. They just announced they are closing it end of the year as the sales never generated.

It indicates to me that adding good gaming to a good phone, a la the iPhone/ iPod Touch, is a viable opportunity. Making a gaming phone with the primary focus on the gaming experience not so much.

By: Pierre-Marie Guyonvarch

Pierre-Marie Guyonvarch — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:11:05 +0000

If I were Sony (or Nokia, or MS or any player in the smartphone arena) I wouldn’t merely imitate the iPhone but I’d rather try to add characteristics the iPhone doesn’t have and that are immediately identified by the users.
You can’t beat the iPhone on music or apps in general since the device is well known for managing them quite nicely. But if the iPhone minimalist design is a good thing for some users, it lacks controllers (like 3 or 4 easy to use buttons) for a rich game experience.
Is there a market for a true gaming phone? Sure since there is a market for gaming PCs that cost 2 to 4 times the price of basic PCs. Moreover, Apple has proven for more than 2 decades that you can be wealthy if you dominate a niche market…

By: pk22901

pk22901 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:10:04 +0000

If Apple’s 4G iPhone is received as an upgrade to the Jesus phone with INCREDIBLE UNMATCHED gaming capabilities, watch out! It would make market domination inevitable (remember the touch and the Apps Store).

What would it take? The missing piece is the ARM Cortex-A9 dual processor. Apple’s a senior licensee and it’s rumored that Apple has its PA_RISC team working on proprietary extensions of the licensed design.

I’d bet Apple delivers mobiles based on this design within the next 9 months. It’s a no brainer since their work forwarding powerful gaming would also

- double or triple battery life

- be used in four blockbusters (iPhone, touch, iTab, a NEW Apple TV) with early year run rates of 80M, 13oM, and 200M

- enhance the whole mobile user experience: movies, iTunes LP, magazines, multimedia enabled books and newspapers, TV, transporter (whoops, that’s Star Trek)

Anyhow, that’s MHO about it. (I’m long Apple.)