PDAs And Mobile Phones vs. Gameboy
from the the-battle-for-market-share dept
Here's an article suggesting that while Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market with its Gameboy - and is poised to continue to do so with the new Gameboy Advance, they may be facing a growing challenge from PDAs and mobile phones. Adults are already used to carrying around those devices (and not Gameboys). There are already a few companies out there who make games (generally games that are targeted at adults who want to waste a few minutes - not play for hours). Also, as these devices get more powerful and have better screens, they'll be able to do more with games. Finally, these devices will (or already do) have wireless connections to play networked games - which Gameboy doesn't have. Of course, Nintendo disagrees with all of this saying they know gaming, and since PDAs and mobile phones aren't designed specifically for gaming, they have an inherent disadvantage. To some extent, that's definitely true. The point that Nintendo is missing, however, is that these PDAs and mobile phones don't have to be the best portable gaming machines out there - they just have to be good enough that it's not worth buying a Gameboy.
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Like someone in the article says, these are two really different markets. Kids have a gameboy and adults have a phone/pda. Now, this might change if the phone/pda cost dropped enough. But in the history of computers, the cost of a new system has been fairly constant at 2000$, and there's no reason to think that a similar mindset won't be at work with phones/pdas. The adults who own these probably won't be willing to pay very much for games, or buy very many of them, since they are there mainly as time-killers. That translates into a pretty poor market. Making a big bet on games for these systems shows a poor understanding of the market for these devices.
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Re: kids
Kids have a gameboy, adults have a PDA/phone? Get real! Certa9inly in the UK (and almost certainly Japan) far more kids have a mobile than a gameboy. And until recenlty phones were cheaper to buy in to than gameboys too.
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