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Strong N-Gage Launch Claimed, Figures Disagree
Khyl'Dran writes "According to Gamesindustry.biz, "The first official statement from Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia on the launch of its N-Gage game deck has claimed that the device is sold out at many retailers following a 'very positive' consumer response." However, 1UP have posted US sales figures which reveal "...less than 5,000 units of Nokia N-Gage hardware were sold in the United States in the system's first week of release", after reported sales of 500 units in the UK following launch, and 1UP argue a "...rough comparison [point] would be to the Game Boy Advance, which sold 540,000 units in its first week of availability in the United States."
As the article mentions, the Atari Jaguar did almost exactly as well during its first week, and I think the comparison is apt. :-)
Notice Nokia gave no numbers, so it is possible their initial shipment was very low.
Odds are, the "coolness" of the device might get some sales from people unaware of the problems, just to result in returns days later.
I was in EB today. The guy said they have only sold 1 and it came back after 2 days.
The real reason is this.
it's not totally crap.
granted it's not totally awesome handheld gaming system, but that's not all it is.
but it's a nice 'connectivity device', for staying on irc while you're on move, reading slashdot & etc and the occasional game. i know few people who have bought it, but none who have bought it because of it's games! the reason they have bought it is that it is tha CHEAPEST series60 phone(gb/gbc/c64/spectrumzx emulators, irc, opera & etc make up a lot of it's usability), it's a whole lot cheaper than 3650 and only lacks the camera in utility department(which isn't that vital) has more mem and is more fresh. also it's the cheapest phone that has a mmc slot so it is practical to haul few tens of mbytes of stuff with you(books&etc). anyways, the irc&instant messaging aspect is something of a sleeper still.. once the teens start utilising it instead of sms messages these newer phones will start to fly(granted, these are available on almost any j2me capable phone, but believe me, they're much more usable on series60 phones than on the simpler phones that lack multitasking & etc).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Flawed though the N-Gage is, these figures don't mean very much. In the UK, cellphones are subsidised by the telecoms companies - it's much cheaper to buy one as part of a monthly contract than to own the hardware outright. People who want an N-Gage will mostly be upgrading from existing contract phones, so damning on the basis of purchase figures is a bit hasty.
Not that I think the N-Gage is going to be successful - sounds like it's doomed by the portrait screen, awkward cartridge changing and lack of usefulness as a phone. But at 49 quid on some contracts, a lot of people will be tempted to get one as a games console and keep their SIM card in an old handset. (Can you play games and use the Bluetooth without a SIM?)
I love the idea of Bluetooth multiplayer. If Nokia have screwed it up this time, it's not going to be long before somebody gets it right.
...just what Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf is up to. Looks like the ex-iraqi information minister is working for the nokia PR departemnt.
It's sad when choosing an installation directory on your own qualifies you as an "advanced user."
I work at a Target store in WA state. We sell the Nokia N-Gage. Well actually, "sell" isn't the right word. We have them available for sale. Since it's debut, we haven't sold a single one. Only two people have even inquired about them: a 10-year-old kid who was only interested in it for it's .mp3 playback ability, and another kid whose mother didn't want to spend $300 on something that small.
I think that everyone here knows the downward trajectory that this item is about to take.
:) Several websites praising this great product that the sweaty masses didn't appreciate will appear, as will several hacks and hardware mods.
They'll cut the price in the next few weeks to $199, or offer a rebate to get it to that price. It'll still fail to sell, but they'll wait for the Xmas rush to find that out.
Since so many gamers spend the Xmas dollars in January, they'll cut it to $99. You'll get it for free with a 1 year contract from Voicestream and Cingular, too.
By next summer, it'll be $49 from compgeeks.com and other liquidators, and sell out immediately
Jonathan
hed.
http://goldysmom.blogspot.com
The Gameboy has been around longer than most gamers, I can't see why people are always comparing the N-Gage with the Gameboy (Advance SP). All these comparisons seem weak in light of the fact that most retailers simply shun the N-Gage. (Two posters and a binder with a couple pages of infomation is weak comparing to a wall of Gameboy displays, posters, and prop-up displays)
When you only have one for sale, you tend to sell out. Atleast the could be honest about its failure like Sega was or they can take the Nintendo route and forget they ever made it.
Nokia would have down better to bundle it with an archive CD of compatible Series 60 software from somwhere like my-symbian.