Apple claims 50 percent of portable gaming market

[Narmer]

The claim was quickly called into question but no word yet from Apple. Anyone know what Jobs may have been thinking?

http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/01/apple-claims-50-percent-of-portable-gaming-market-ipod-touch-o

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Gaming, Portable Audio / Video
Apple claims 50 percent of portable gaming market, iPod touch 'outsells Nintendo and Sony combined'

By Sean Hollister posted Sep 1st 2010 1:26PM

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Nintendo famously called Apple the enemy of the future in the video gaming space, and by golly, it looks like the Japanese giant was right; Steve Jobs just told an audience that the iPod touch alone outsells Nintendo's DS and Sony's PlayStation Portable combined, worldwide. How many games iPod touch users actually play and for how long wasn't discussed, but Jobs said 1.5 billion "games and entertainment" apps have been downloaded -- again, on the iPod touch alone, never mind all those iPhones.

Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS devices Apple claims, and only some of which are iPod touch -- as of the Japanese company's July earnings report. We've contacted Apple for clarification and hope to be able to explain the discrepancy soon.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

What a load of bullshit. How many iPod touch users actually use the thing as a gaming device? 10%? The iPod Touch SUCKS for gaming, touch-based gaming in general sucks.

<-- owns an iPod Touch and will never own a portable gaming device, but thinks this is fucking retarded.

 

[waggy]

possible. there are thousands of shitty games for the ipod. real question though is it a better gameing system the Nintendo or Sony? not even close to them.

 

[Key West]

Probably true because of casual pickup games on iPod. That has the broadest audience and will make most money.

It's same as saying Farmville having most users.

 

[dighn]

probably true if you count ultra-casual "gamers" who might try out a game or two once in a while on their iphone/ipod; that doesn't mean anything though because the quality obviously isn't there.

 

[JJChicken]

Reality distortion field fully powered! Warp-in Apple Zealots!

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

probably true if you count ultra-casual "gamers" who might try out a game or two once in a while on their iphone/ipod; that doesn't mean anything though because the quality obviously isn't there.

Yeah unfortunately I have about 5 purchases on their statistics as I have bought a few games after the ridiculous hype among Apple fanboys and the tech media about using iPod Touch/iPhone as a gaming device. It sucks for gaming, but that's one more "gaming device" and 5 game purchases (all <$3) for them to tack onto their bullshit statistics.

 

[Narmer]

Did you guys miss the Engadget "update" which states that Apple has sold 120m iOS devices (including iPod Touch) whereas Nintendo has sold 132m Nintendo DS alone? The hardware numbers just do not add up. Jobs must be talking about freeware/shareware.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Jobs must be talking about freeware/shareware.

Or he's just lying.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

With the DS and PSP, people have to actively want to buy a device that is only dedicated to gaming. With the iOS platform people can just buy the device for some other reason and easily start playing games on it also.

 

[Dominato3r]

What happens to this company after Steve dies?

 

[Terzo]

Is anyone else confused about the wording in the update?

Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS device Apple claims...

Don't they mean more than? Or am I missing something really obvious?

What happens to this company after Steve dies?

I'd lean towards difficulties. Last time he left them they did pretty poorly, although this time around I reckon they have a stronger business and might do just fine.

 

[Zebo]

Apple is doomed!&#8482;

 

[preslove]

I assume they're counting all their game downloads to iOS devices and comparing that to the total # of games purchased for the DS and PSP. If true, then it's bullshit because so many games are free, and most purchased games for iOS are in the $1-5 range, whereas DS games usually start off life retailing for $30.

To give some perspective, I've owned a DS for 4 years and have bought 9 or 10 games, and mostly just play advanced wars occasionally. I've owned a Samsung Vibrant for almost 2 1/2 months and have downloaded about 10 games, but haven't purchased any. I've spent around $250 (some were used) on DS games, but not one cent on Android games.

 

[GodlessAstronomer]

Don't they mean more than? Or am I missing something really obvious?

It's Engadget. Their quality is extraordinarily poor, it's probably just poor proof reading.

 

[preslove]

What happens to this company after Steve dies?

They'll stagnate and there's a good chance they'll shrink dramatically. There'll be a whole lot more iTunes Pings than iPhones.

 

[Terzo]

It's Engadget. Their quality is extraordinarily poor, it's probably just poor proof reading.

Jolly good. As long as I'm not become (more) stupid.

 

[Zebo]

If economy recovers and more people can afford iPhone/T I bet AAPL will be worth twice m$. I won't have another phone, been there done that.

 

[shortylickens]

Solitaire doesnt count.

 

[gorcorps]

What happens to this company after Steve dies?

It'll be hit pretty hard. When they fired him back in the day they fell pretty fast, and when they got him back he got them going again. They're better off now but I'm sure they'll feel it hard.

 

[zerocool84]

Or he's just lying.

Just as people found out he was lying about how many Android devices are "activated" or sold at the same conference.

Jobs does nothing but mud-sling. It's all he knows how to do. His main tactic is try to make the competition look bad instead of letting his products do the talking.

Just like people said above:

Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS devices Apple claims, and only some of which are iPod touch -- as of the Japanese company's July earnings report. We've contacted Apple for clarification and hope to be able to explain the discrepancy soon.

 

[QueBert]

Or he's just lying.

I doubt he's lying, on the iTunes store you have to have bought a game to review it. Go look at non free games, there are reviews out the ying yang, and most people who buy a game don't ever write reviews. I can buy a buck game for my iPod Touch, I can't get a $1 one for my PSP. My Touch is awesome for gaming, far better than my PSP. Acyually I gave my PSP away because it bored me so much. Imagine how a Touch game like Angry Bird can be so much better than one that cost me $40 bucks.

 

[dwell]

Update: As many fine readers have suggested in comments, this particular statistic seems a little hard to swallow, given that the Nintendo DS alone sold roughly 132 million units -- a good bit less than the 120 million iOS device Apple claims...

Jobs is referring to "market share". The 120M vs 132M refers to "installed base".

Installed base or installed user base is a measure of the number of units of a particular type of system (usually a computing platform) actually in use, as opposed to market share, which only reflects sales over a particular period.

 

[zerocool84]

Jobs is referring to "market share". The 120M vs 132M refers to "installed base".

Jobs said the iPod Touch alone outsells the DS and PSP. I don't know how this can be taken any other way.

 

[PieIsAwesome]

Shens. They will never be able to compete with the millions of bored people at work playing solitaire.