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Nintendo To Take On Apple With DSi App Store
Dave Allen writes "Despite Nintendo publicly claiming no direct competition with the iPhone or iPod Touch with its new DSi console, reports have been leaked about the Big N actively encouraging developers to begin work on small form gaming and non-gaming applications for the DSi's download service.
This is the first step toward Nintendo putting together a direct App Store rival, and could be the marketing hook it's been desperately searching for to convince gamers to upgrade their DS." It seems only fair that since the iPhone is now a gaming platform, the DS is becoming a PDA. And, if the only difference between them is a 3G wireless connection, the rivalry can only get more fierce.
How about Dual Screens, Dual Cameras, expandable memory, clamshell design. Not to mention the thing plays DS GAMES!
The DS has a totally different resolution, control structure, a minimal API set, and the big thing: no WWAN connectivity. It's just not even the same thing. It is much better at playing games, though.
If Nintendo doesn't intend to compete directly with Apple then why jump on the bandwagon with the "i" addition? I know it's trendy on everything from the iRobot to the i-Dog but in my opinion they show their hand with the name.
How does providing a download service for DSi "directly compete" with Apple's Appstore (to paraphrase the summary)? If you own an iPhone, you won't be able to access the DS store, and if you own a DSi you won't be able to access the iPhone Appstore, so how is that competition?
People won't be choosing between iPhone or DSi. They are completely different devices.
Not in the slightest. Nintendo has been operating their Wii online store since before the iPhone App Store was a gleam in Jobs' eye. Their DSiWare track appears to be something they've been working on for some time. The iPhone App store and the DSiWare store are coincidental competitors, not reactive competitors. i.e. Nintendo no more reacted to the iPhone than Apple reacted to WiiWare.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
So, will there be SDKs for download?
Are there already SDKs for download, and I just didn't know about them?
Education is the silver bullet.
Nintendo's online game store is probably going to be a precursor to a full-blown AAA-title download store for them. They're not interested in making the DS into a PDA, they're interested in cutting out Walmart as a middle-man.
(You don't have to look very far to see how digital distribution is changing the gaming market. Eg. XBox Live Arcade, Steam, D2D, etc. Nintendo wants a piece of the sweet sweet pie that Valve cooked with Steam.)
... unless you believe all the hyperbole that comes out of Apple's marketing department.
The iPhone is a gaming platform as much as my Tamagotchi is a gaming platform (when compared to a DS). We're talking casual, short games vs. full blown DS games, there's no comparison here.
Not at all. The Nintendo DS has sold over a hundred million units; that's 2-3 times more than Apple has sold iPhones. The moment Nintendo begins competing against Apple in the 'portable gadget' field, they will immediately become one of Apples biggest competitors.
Plus, Nintendo has a similar emphasis on quality and user experience as Apple, and much moreso than most of Apple's other competitors. However, I think Nintendo isn't interested in direct competition, but is probably trying to exploit an untapped market (like they did with the Wii).
The way I see it, another App store that is on another platform is not really a direct rival to Apple's iTunes App store for iPhone/iPod touch. They're not REALLY stealing any sales from Apple's store, as the Apple users will still continue to have to use the iTunes app store to buy stuff for their iPhones/iPod touch.
Now, if someone was to open an app store that was able to sync and install onto the iPhone, THAT would be a rival. Yes, at the moment that would require Apple certifying the application to be able to sync to the iPhone, and configuring the iPhone to allow such a store to sync onto it, which we all know would probably be as likely to happen as seeing Halley's comet next month near Earth.
Maybe, in the future, all these stores will coalesce into one big store, or use an open framework so that each store can sync onto any device... but for now, they are not really competition of each other so long as each store retains sole rights over its respective device.
And, if the only difference between them is a 3G wireless connection, the rivalry can only get more fierce.
Isn't one of them not a phone? That sounds like a big difference to me.