Comments on: One device, one pocket

By: systemsboy

systemsboy — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 20:50:03 +0000

“Sony’s comment that you buy the iPhone to make calls and the PSP to play games overlooks a simple fact that consumers won’t: with the iPhone, you can do both.”

Absolutely right. And everyone needs a phone.

-systemsboy

By: Neurotic Nomad

Neurotic Nomad — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:42:15 +0000

Tricorder + Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy = iPhone

Dedicated gaming devices will never go away, but their sales will never grow beyond the group of gamers that have bought them since the 1970s.

Their numbers will not shrink, but their percentage of the market will become insignificant as the do-it-all pocket computer becomes ubiquitous and the gaming market grows.

By: Peter

Peter — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:36:22 +0000

I would tend to agree.

Nintendo is right about the realm of personal gaming. Those people who love Nintendo games will continue to buy them. But much like the Wii brought video games to a bunch of people who normally wouldn’t play them, an attraction of the iPhone would be “casual gaming”–the kind of game I can briefly play while waiting for something else to occur.

Personally, I have no interest in the Nintendo DS or Sony PSP because I don’t play that much for games. But if I already have an iPhone and there’s a race car game for it, I’ll try it out.

By: Jocca

Jocca — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:15:49 +0000

We had a Vii before we got our iPhones. Now it is sitting by the TV, unused. Our iPhones have taken over our times pretty much so. We can play our games anywhere we want to, instead of having to use our game console in front of a dedicated screen. It is a totally new and flexible way of using our phone/play/computer gadget.

By: Sam Hunter

Sam Hunter — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:01:03 +0000

Amen. In the year that I’ve owned mine (and I have never even thought to buy a handheld game device), I have come to realize just how much of a tool it is. Handling urgent emails in the doctor’s office – check. Lost in Paris and looking for a metro – check. Where’s the closest gas station – check. Splitting a check with friends – check. On the spot comparison price shopping – check. Gaming diversion in the doctor’s office – check.

I think the most telling point about the iPhone experience is the evangelism… both Steve and I are always showing people what they can do with it beyond the seduction of the pretty games. And he and I have both seen people opt for other smartphones and then comes back and say they picked the wrong horse, but have to ride it for the next two years.

It really isn’t a phone… it’s becoming a tricorder…

By: Michael Long

Michael Long — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 07:38:22 +0000

“Sony’s comment that you buy the iPhone to make calls and the PSP to play games overlooks a simple fact that consumers won’t…”

Well… some will, just as some people also carry a dedicated camera or video camera. The real question is: how many?

Just as embedded camera phones have sliced into the P&S camera market, so will iPhone/Pre/whatever phones into the dedicated electronic game market.

And I’m one of those people. I have at least a dozen games on my iPhone, but I would NEVER have bought a Gameboy.