Nintendo not concerned about competition from Apple

Yes... that's correct
pwb : "And in the end the game authors will go after the mass market..."
and to me it seems the mass market likes whorey cheap games then an actual real game experience, like many of you mentioned, you buy 0.99$ game, you get 0.99$ experience, you buy 40$ game, you get 40$ experience, whore`s works for 0.99$.....
However maybe the world will come to realize that quality > quanity
Cart's are not a lack on Nintendo's side and to actually hold a game and to see your "virtual" bought game are whole different experiences, obviously the real cart's are the true experience, however its much easier to buy a virtual game and its cheaper, like I said "easy and cheap"... you get the point, I just hope the world will come to its senses, Nintendo is doing a GREAT job at keeping even part of the hardcore games (There is always part of me that loves the new hits that weren't made by Nintendo obviously, namely Assassins Creed, Mass Effect, Call Of Duty, Devil May Cry, Left For Dead, Far Cry and the obviously great unspoken Grand Theft Auto), Nintendo got the huge "market" that might still have the "life" to grow up again, Not to mention that its actual physical buttons impact the following
Ipodphonepad : Not physical, more up-to-date hardware, cheap games and quality, quanity obviously, easier to redeem [As mentioned, a 40$ game needs some "saving", while 0.99$ game is daily-basis almost], and acts as several devices on one device [and its not really a good thing... as some brain-wielding people may know], The lack of physical buttons and physical games makes the iPodphonepad look like an illusion gaming console, if gaming console at all
Nintendo DS[2?]: old fashioned [cart's] which I personally like, lower-end hardware which brings to the lower price => easier to get, a better quality game for better a better price, making it harder to redeem but the games will actually worth ten times better then the iPodPadPhone games in any aspect, lower quanity [though very large!] and most importantly, it was MEANT to be a gaming console, therefore the things I want it in it [Actually being a gaming console, and not a music player or so, ie the DSL and the DSi] which saves the thing I want from it - view, physically holds better, battery, also with the rumors of the DS2 upwards better hardware, I hope for a reasonable price and a reasonable battery time, I am sorry if I want a gaming quality for 2 hours I would buy the PSP, since after all, its portable device, the longer it lasts the better.

now the real market to be exposed : How are games bought? [iPhoneDS two birds on one stone] aside from birthday presents, that is the process that goes to every gamer encounter, not counting the PS3
Piracy-unlocking [namely Hacking] both devices
downloading different games
Playing those games
if someone will ike that game(s), one will buy it just to hold a real copy of it [it actually feels different] and not just that, its kinda voting a voice on "I helped you, why? because I enjoyed your game, therefore make some more", same reason your local keeps importing to you wine, or your favorite restraunt's chef keeps making food - to satisfy the customers, the "thank you" was more then enough for him, and buying those games instead of pirating them alone is kinda a "thank you" to developers, who works hard enough to develop a simple Tetris game, trust me

Accounting for iPodspadphones customers, its obvious they are not "real" gamers, they don't know how to "thank" the developers well, else they just don't want to, spoiled or not, I don't know, but even chef's will work on the places where people will be polite enough to 'thank' him then the 'brats' who think he owe them something

Piracy is just another method to play a demo version of the game, only its a full version by today, games were copied on the same rate even before it "landed" at this planet, therefore Piracy acts as the tool developers must hold dearest to their hands - making a good game will result in good sells whether its partly free or not, look at mIRC if you don't understand what I mean, making anti-piracy is foolish not just because of that, but also because everything is hackable, its just a matter of time, yes even the PS3 is hackable, its just that there are not enough people who would buy such expansive system and create a hacking-way to it

The console is a basket, the bigger the basket the better [hardware spoken, DS's disadvantage so far, however the DS2 will change it], the more comfortable the basket the better [better to develop on, the DS is much easier to develop on], the place where you choose to put the basket is also an aspect - you must reach the basket when needed [gamep

If Steve Jobs had a more secretive cousin, his name would be I.M. Nintendo ... Nintendo can't even say the words Sony or Microsoft with cringing or feeling they need to shower fr 2 days afterwards, they are not really going to acknowledge much more than that Apple exists ... as for competition, that would be like asking Coke what Pepsi tastes like ... Nintendo clearly has the handheld gaming market locked up and with beloved characters like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, etc, etc ... they have little to fear when it comes to hardcore portable gaming BUT the key to the insanely wild success of the GB, & GBA, etc was that if you wanted portable gaming - your real only answer especially for parents of smaller kids was Nintendo. So, while the iphone/ituch is not going to seriously dent that number, it is going to dent DSi EVER reaching GB/GBA numbers and that's something Nintendo missed. They are very insulated - while Sony & MS went to disc based games - Nintendo insisted on staying with cartridge based games for the N64 - why? Because they made more money as only they could make the cartridges versus platter discs which anyone could make ... as a result, there were fewer games, more expensive (they charged the video game makers for cartridge production) and production was lower (and they gave priority to their titles). So, Nintendo is not exactly business savvy - they are geniuses at video games ... and Nintendo was trying to create a market for casual gaming - hence the ads with Lisa Kudrow about cooking and brain age, etc ... but the touch/iphone spoiled that party. The market for portable handheld shrunk by at least 50% ... adults would much rather hold an touch/iphone than a DSi ... and of course, Nintendo was never fond of anyone loading anything else on the Dsi other than buying games so the touch/iphone has movies, music and apps ... Nintendo will NEVER duplicate the sames and reach of the original GB/GBA ... simple as that ... they will NEVER admit it but then that's Nintendo ...

But that's partly my point, Aaron. No offense but you're 'old school'. :)
Having 4 buttons on the device isn't going to cut it for the next generation of players.

I'm not doubting the fact that there are great games out there for the DS - ones that are worth every cent of the $50 you paid for them.
I'm also not disagreeing that there are a lot of crap $0.99 games for the iPod/iPhone, but that's only half the story.

There *are* a lot of $0.99 games that are worth a heck of a lot more. It's also up to the developer to set the price they want so if they think they've got a $50 game for the iPod then that's their call (bearing in mind that they have to weigh projected sales against that price - would you rather sell one million $10 games, or 100,000 $50 games?)

But even more than that is the fact that Apple have changed the game, and that's the point of my post.
People may have grumbled about the high cost of individual DS games before, but that's when the only alternative was PSP. Now that there's an alternative at a much lower cost more people are going to be seriously asking themselves whether they should buy a DS or an iPod Touch. I can already hear them - "Man, these DS games are _so_ expensive!".

Even so, I'm prepared to bet most people will get at least as much entertainment/enjoyment out of 50 $0.99 iPod games as they will out of one DS game. Maybe not all of them are of the same caliber but so what?

There's also the variety factor - 50 games in hand, switch between them effortlessly, vs. one game at a time until you switch cartridges. How much does a 50-game DS library cost, anyway?

You also don't lose iPod games - how many DS cartridges have you lost/broken? Did Nintendo replace them for you?
What about the stylus? How many of them have you gone through? There's a reason why Nintendo sell them in 3-packs.

You see, Nintendo have been sitting on a cash cow for years because the alternatives haven't been any better. Now there's real competition.
I'm not saying Nintendo will fade away next month, or even next year, but they have to realize they've got to step up their game. 4 buttons and a stylus do not a compelling game platform make.

Afraid? No.

Evaluating the market? Absolutely. They're not stupid.

Nintendo has been around since 1889, and they've weathered much more stronger storms than this. There is ample room in the market for BOTH devices.

Here's a few genre's that I've found that I prefer multitouch/accelorometer over buttons:

Tower Defense
Castle Defense
Puzzlers
Card Games
Board Games
RTS
Skee Ball (should be a genre :P )
Racing
Physics games

And genres that I prefer controls over MT/ACC:

Fighting
Sports
FPS (Though Eliminate Pro did a great job)
Shooters
Tetris (Also not a genre, more of a Religion :) )

As far as market/hype, check out Touch Arcade, it's by far the biggest gaming forum I've seen dedicated to one platform.

If you all seriously think iPhones will replace DS's for the under-13 age set, you must not hang around kids much. My kids play on my iPod Touch and by about 30 minutes they've either gotten tired of it or they've run the battery completely out. They can go for 4+ hours on a charge on their DSs. They swap games with each other and friends, and they like to sell back the ones they don't want any more, which is impossible on the iPhone. Not to mention how hard kids are on their toys. I have two boys. I buy the Nerf Armor for their DSs, and one of my boys still managed to bust his first DS. Now I have an extended warranty on the new one!

I can imagine what my kids' reactions would be when Apple decided to either to (a) arbitrarily remove one of their games, which Apple seems to like to do to apps out of the blue, or (b) crippled some feature of a game that they liked (eg. "hey, what happened to the voice chat?").

On an iPhone, they'll do something stupid and delete a game while we're traveling when I can't do anything about it. They share games and create their own Save Files on shared games, which iPhone games rarely do. Not to forget, there are no Parental Controls on the iPhone/iPod and they come with wifi and a web browser.

iPhones as the primary gaming system for kids is a terrible idea. Apple would have to create a unit that is specifically geared for gamers. Given Apple's long history of ignoring gaming, this is not going to be a primary focus as long as Steve Jobs runs the show, for good reason.

I think Nintendo actually should be a bit afraid. Or... well, it depends on their current demographics (which I don't know).

For the "real games" DS so miles better than iPhone, because of the controls. Yes, I can play many of the games, but the controls are always a matter of compromise. You get use to it, but it's this constant irritation of covering your screen of not having enough precision or missing the virtual arrows.

But most of Nintendo TV-ads (at least over here) seem to be focused on casual gaming - simple games and puzzles that you can play now and then for 5 minutes, at home or travelling, typically with stylus. And for those iPhone is a huge competition.

So it all boils down to which one of those 2 groups is the one that earns Nintendo the most money.

Volume of units...

Like another commentor said, 70million in 3 or 125million in 6. Apple will have eclipsed the DS by 2011.

Agreed games are not as deep or good on the iPxxx. But with volume you can afford risk and attract publishers. Final Fantasy will be watched closely by other big devs and by my reckoning its doing well. Others will come and port and make new.

The price is creeping up too, $10 for game is just fine. Remember also that your USD35-50 DS game isn't actually that much, it's Nintendo publishing fees and price setting that makes them that. It isn't that the devs are raking in that much so can make heaps better titles. The AppStore games are cheaper but so is the publishing and dev entry fees. With a mac mini and $100 you can make whatever and publish it for the iPhone, no chance of that for DS.

Finally it doesn't have to be better than a DS to win, technology speaking the PSP is better than a DS and where did that get it.

As for quality. Consider this. Record > Tape < CD >>>>> MP3. The perception of quality is decaying, a whole generation now thinks MP3 sounds normal. Two generations think a JPEG is normal vs a photo print but it's crap. DVD was visually worse than VHS but perceived as better. Blu Ray sadly won't win againt downloads and yet downloads are worse quality than any of them. Already I'd guess rips are moving more content than bluray.

Quality means nothing. Perception is everything. If a generation starts playing 99c bitsa games guess what. The $10 game will be king. If a generation gets used to dodgy touch screen controls, well that'll suit them just fine over "old school" button games. They'll be all like, it's old farts who can't deal with it.

Nintendo needs to go radical. Not sure they will but out of Sony, MS or Nintendo it's Nintendo that stands the best chance cause they make $$ on units from day 1, so if they cut games prices to $5 a cartridge it would dint the bottom line but (given various production costs) won't be losing money. If S and M do that they will go down the hole in a generation.

Does N have the balls or it, to shatter the market. We shall see.

Cammie is talking baloney.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/11/11/nintendo_admits_dark_future_if_it_cant_differentiate_from_iphone.html

Cammie is either lying or is wearing those corporate blinkers. Nintendo must be nuts to not worry about the iPod Touch/iPhone.

Compare: Nintendo have sold 125 million units in 6 years. Apple have sold 70 million iPhone/iPod touches in 3. hmmm…

Now, of course, not all those iPod/iPhones are bought for games, but find me an iPhone that doesn't have at least one game on it.

The point is that the iPod/iPhone is a game changer (no pun intended). It's completely changing (or has changed) how people view mobile gaming. It's completely changing how people purchase games (cartridges, anyone?? seriously???). It's completely changing people's expectation.

There is no way that anyone with more than 2 brain cells would consider a DS over an iPhone when they consider all the other functions the iPhone/iPod Touch brings to the table - not just in the apps, but also location awareness, compass, accelerometer, etc.

Even parents who look at the prices realize that $130 + $30 per game soon adds up to a lot more than an iPod Touch.

Nintendo cannot continue soliciting the premium cost of its games (which is partly sucked up in licensing costs as well as physical media and distribution costs) so something has to give.