Coming next gen: Apple's iConsole!

[ilnadmy]

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/749/749530p1.html

December 6, 2006 - The most recent iPod update introduced games to the king of portable music players. Could Apple have bigger plans for entering the videogame market with its own console? Analysts think it's a distinct possibility.

"We think the videogame market represents a distinct possibility for Apple, especially considering that it recently announced the availability of videogames for its iPod through its iTunes store," says Jesse Tortora of Prudential. "The game console device could be morphed out of some combination of the MacMini and iTV, while the handheld player could be developed as an enhancement for a future version of the widescreen iPod."

Traditionally, console makers sell their hardware at a loss and recoup their investment from software sales. The platform is also usually open to third party developers to provide software. Both of these business models would be departures from Apple's traditional strategy, which involves making money from hardware that utilizes its own proprietary software.

"The videogame console market is notorious for subsidising hardware to sell profitable games. Apple would have to either rely on the sales of its games and downloadable movies to make enough profit to cover losses on hardware or figure out a strategy to make profits on hardware itself," said Tortora.

A move into videogames could be a play by Apple to strengthen its footing in the home entertainment sector -- a sector Apple is definitely interested in, what with its iTV scheduled to debut early next year.

"There are no technical limitations to this capability, and Microsoft is already aggressively wooing the movie studios," noted the analyst, in reference to Microsoft's attempts to get Hollywood behind its HD-DVD technology. "This could adversely impact Apple's iTunes Movie download business longer-term, along with its iTV and video iPod sales."

Apple has recently been hiring folks with experience in both game consoles and software.

All I can say is...WTF?

[NEO-360]

I have to agree with you ilnadmy: WTF?!? :crazy:

[GameLegend]

Theres been all sorts of rumers in the past years of Apple joining the handheld and console industry. This is just another prediction, dont start spazzing out just yet. Also, it does make sense for them to enter, if u think about it.

ipod is a brand name, that is known all over. I'm a 3rd year univesity nursing student. And yes all my female nursing friends are as mainstream as u can get when it comes to purchasing technology. When they think of mp3 player, 9/10 of them think ipod, and ONLY ipod, because they dont even know others mp3 players actually exist, or feel its name brand and they cant go wrong. Even when I mentioned Sony brand, TDK, Panasonic, nadda, its all about the ipod.
Do u see the amount of control Apple has on the mainstream consumer!?@!

[ilnadmy]

The iPod has a lot of control over the mainstream consumer, not Apple. I bet you the mainstream consumer doesn't know the difference between an iMac and a Power Book and what other crap they have on the computer front. It's not Apple that has that control, it's the iPod brand that they created.

[silversparrow]

Apple will NOT enter the video game industry. They have a completely different playbook from Microsoft. Instead of copying other product ideas and trying to dominate the market, they look for potential somewhere unexplored and then carve out their own market.

[Mochan]

What'lll happen though is the iConsole will have downloadable games through iTunes, have a click wheel interface, and runs on an internal battery.

Anyway this DOES make sense for Apple. MS is trying to eat into Apple's pie, Apple should return the favor. Apple used to be a vialbe gaming platform 20 years ago and it was going toe to toe with the PC, but today things are vastly different. Having ceded the desktop computer gaming arena, they may want to try to get some of the console/handheld gaming pie instead, and why not? It's a huge booming industry. And with Apple's current branding, they're already a household name, so it's easy to expand to other related industries. I can see Apple adopting a Nintendo-esque approach and targetting the mainstream crowd over the hardcore crowd.

[Mochan]

It's not Apple that has that control, it's the iPod brand that they created.

That's why it'll be called the iPlay or something lame like that, and...


Apple will NOT enter the video game industry. They have a completely different playbook from Microsoft. Instead of copying other product ideas and trying to dominate the market, they look for potential somewhere unexplored and then carve out their own market.

... they'll be trying to carve their own niche in a mainstream market, kind of like what Nintendo is doing.

And while Apple doesn't exactly have the same playbook as MS, they're not exactly free of the "me too" syndrome; Apple's OSs have been looking more and more like Windows and iPods themselves of course weren't the original MP3 player. Apple entered the mp3 player business just like MS entered the consoel business. Hard to imagine since everyone these days seems to think iPods started the Mp3 player thing.

[T.Tashi]

Anyway this DOES make sense for Apple. MS is trying to eat into Apple's pie, Apple should return the favor.

MS just launched their Zune thingy, which I thought was another ipod til I actually read the photo caption. I don't think Apple will go toe to toe with others in the industry but they can carve themselves out a nice niche, which is what a lot of indie developers do, especially for portable devices.

[Mochan]

Indeed; I sincerely doubt Apple is going to go toe to toe with MS or Sony on this. They would probably intend to find a different segment of the market to appeal to with their portoconsole, if they wever launch it. They'll probably try to zero in on the same people who buy iPods.