Forbes put up an article that is nothing more than bait for people to attack the comments section (twice they ask for comments). They are banging the drum that Apple’s handhelds are going to destroy the Nintendo DS.
Since its launch in July, the App Store has turned into a monster, with Apple announcing in August it was selling $1 million worth of software a day–and climbing. And 928, (26%) of the 3,528 applications offered at the store are games. “Who knows, maybe [the App Store] will be a $1 billion marketplace at some point in time,” Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs told The Wall Street Journal.
Apps are extremely popular on the iPhone. But apps stand for applications of which gaming is only a part. Most of the software people are using for the iPhone is not gaming related. Non-gaming applications are the most popular thing.
One blogger actually wrote that he doesn’t “see how Apple has a chance,” citing Apple’s “lofty goal” of selling 10 million iPhones this year and the fact that Nintendo clocked DS sales of 414,800 in the month of April.
Huh? Last time we checked, 12 times 414,800 was 5 million (rounding up, anyway). As for Apple’s “lofty goal” of 10 million iPhones, as any stock analyst can tell you, that was a cheap set-up. Apple always lowers expectations so it can crush its targets. People who pay attention to stuff like this figure Apple will build more like 17 million iPhones this year. That bests a three-to-one advantage–before counting the sale of a single iPod Touch.
The blogger sounds like something I could have said. Nintendo did not sell 400,000 DS systems in April, you dimwit. It sold 400,000 DS systems in April within the United States. Don’t forget about the rest of North America, Japan, Europe, and other markets just for that month of April. But when you are a sensationalistic business media person, the sensation matters, not the context or facts.
I am sure Nintendo is *really* scared of those sales! Oh no! I think the PSP did even better.
Besides, people who buy the iPhone or iPod Touch *might* play games on it. Every sale of a Nintendo DS or PSP means the buyer will 100% be gaming on it… since that is what it does (OK, maybe not 100% on the PSP).
Forbes, your article lacks context and is nothing more than trolling the Internet for comments. Message forums put out better content than this.