What if Apple goes a step further and makes the iPad capable of connecting to the TV? Perhaps it could be something as simple as a wireless dongle that plugs into the HDMI port, or wireless connection between AppleTV (a product that has been conspicuous in its absence from Apple promotion, yet it still won’t kill) and the iPad. This would be the exact opposite of that terrible WiiU controller, which Nintendo is trying to promote as basically an iPad that stays tethered to your TV and can’t store games (that’s what they’re getting at by repeating over and over that you can play games on it without using the TV), which for some reason is supposed to make me not want an iPad instead.
I think the WiiU controller is a poor co-optive counterattack. Surely Nintendo sees the ga-ga-gonzo sales numbers of games like Angry Birds and how huge these PC/tabletPC/smartphone game companies are getting (Zynga has a market cap of $7b, making it more valuable than EA at $5b). I think they’re being birdmen now–they think iPad games are “touch panel games,” so making a console that does “touch panel games” is sure to be a hit, just like everyone thought making. And they’re fleeing upmarket, too. Rather than proudly trumpeting that all the latest and greatest games from Rovio and Zynga will be playable on the Wii (which is what a [i]good[/i] cooption counterattack would consist of), Nintendo trying to sell WiiU as the best place to play Assassin’s Creed and Battlefield, which the iPad can’t play. The message of Nintendo’s WiiU marketing isn’t “We’re like MS and Sony now,” it’s “This thing is just like the iPad only [i]way[/i] better! It’s like an iPad that can play PS3 games!” And it’s quite obvious they have no idea what business they’re in.
Nintendo’s going to be an example in a Christensen textbook some day…and not the example they want to be.
iPad can already connect to a TV.
Let me elaborate on the disruptive properties.
First of all, Nintendo is not and cannot be disrupted. Nintendo is an arcade company, and people buy Nintendo consoles looking for it to do the job of an arcade experience at home. Nintendo’s fall in sales always stems that Nintendo chooses to not be an arcade company. Somewhere along the line, Nintendo believed they were ‘innovators’ and thought the crusade of 3d output was the greatest thing ever. It is what brought out the consoles like the Nintendo 64 or the Virtual Boy (or the 3DS).
With the collapse of Sega, the arcade console market has zero competition. Nintendo’s threat is from disinterest, not from any competitor. It is not like Nintendo fans go and buy the competition because there is no competition. There is no more Sega. The people who do not buy Nintendo products tend to not purchase another game console. They just sit out in gaming limbo, the lost generation.
Shigeru Miyamoto’s hatred for 2d Mario is his hatred for arcade gaming. The same thing with Aonuma’s hatred for Classic Zelda and Sakamoto’s hatred for Classic Metroid is the hatred of arcade gaming. To them, gaming should be about narratives and everything an arcade game is not.
The iPad controller would be disruptive against dumbed down PC game consoles… specifically the Playstation and Xbox. The biggest loser would be Steam. Steam would be confined to high end PC gaming while Apple takes over the lower end. Eventually, Apple would move its way upward and totally wipe out Steam. Steam is still a very weak platform since only older males are on it. Apple could easily bring in the grandparents, the housewives, and all those types. Steam would be the biggest one hit by this.
In order for disruption to exist, there needs to be a disruptor and a disruptee. The disruptee is someone who is bloated, who has too many features, or is too expensive, or something like that. The disruptor is often cheaper, simpler, and comes across as a crappy product for crappy consumers. While a gaming iPad may not be cheaper, it certainly comes across as a simpler device and a crappy product for crappy consumers. Assuming old iPads remain on the market and get marked down, the iPad could become cheaper.
What is so funny is that Nintendo is trying so hard to break the game console away from the established TV screen. Why? So they can ram more 3d output down our throats. This is what the ultimate direction of the Wii U will be (of why it is necessary to create a separate screen for the controller because it is independent of TVs). It was the direction of the 3DS (of Nintendo using its control of the output to ram 3d at us). And then there was that Virtual Boy incident.
Apple already is where Nintendo wants to be with a screen already separate from the television. And I find that funny.
Unlike Nintendo, I do not see Apple ramming 3d down our throats. The reasons for decline for Nintendo, ever since it got into video games, has revolved around Shigeru Miyamoto’s sick, sick obsession concerning 3d. It is time to ask whether Miyamoto, throughout his career all taken together, has been a positive or negative force on Nintendo. When will the sick, sick 3d obsession end?