iPod/DS Lite

[ddrueckhammer]

The recent speculation about Apple purchasing Nintendo and the physical resemblence of the Nintendo DS Lite (http://www.nintendo.com/channel/ds) to the iPod has me thinking... I know that this probably would never happen since Apple is primarily a hardware company but if Apple would release a cartridge similar to the Opera Browser (http://www.opera.com/pressreleases/en/2006/02/15/index.dml) (using both the GBA and DS card slots) that allowed iPod-like functionality on the DS Lite it would be a very compelling convergence device. Especially, if the DS could be synched via Wifi with iTunes. Although, I did find the iPlay-Yan (http://ipsp.kaisakura.com/iplayan.php) app that makes it look pretty easy.

The iPod is missing a touch screen, gaming content, Wifi connectivity, and a web browser. The DS is missing image, video, and audio playback capabilities. Obviously, Apple can get everything but the gaming content (at least on the level of the DS or PSP) and Nintendo can get everything but the iPod connectivity. Nintendo already released the Play-Yan (http://www.nintendo.co.jp/n08/play_yan_micro/index.html) in Japan that allows video and audio playback but it is not an elegant solution in comparison to iPods.

While the iPod doesn't necessarily need gaming content, and the DS Lite doesn't need iPod features, they would appeal to fairly large market. It seems to me that this is the ultimate opportunity for collaboration. On paper, it should work much better than the Motorola ROKR fiasco as well. What do you think? Could this ever happen? Would it work?

[sam10685]

i definitley think that it could work because Nintendo and Apple are pretty similar in the way they work and stuff... however, i don't see it happening because Nintendo is a Japanese company that has been arounnd for a very long time and i don't see them allowing an American company to just buy them.

[dmw007]

Interesting idea, but I seriously doubt that Apple would buy Nintendo. But who really knows....... ;) :D

[iRhyknow]

DS LitePod :p on paper looks better than the ROKR, to me at least :D .

They dont need to buy Nintendo to make something like that happen though, just a colab could get it done.

Oh and just tell me how much, the credit card is waiting...

[Torajima]

Interesting idea, but I seriously doubt that Apple would buy Nintendo. But who really knows....... ;) :D

Apple CAN'T buy Nintendo. Really, I don't know how such a dumb rumor got started. Nintendo has been around for like 100 years, they have plenty of money in the bank, and even if they wanted to find a buyer they simply wouldn't go with an American company... it's a very Japanese company.

[mark!]

Isn't a merger different from buying a company?

[ddrueckhammer]

i don't see it happening because Nintendo is a Japanese company that has been arounnd for a very long time and i don't see them allowing an American company to just buy them.

I agree that the cultural barrier is the largest barrier but I think that Apple's values are more similar to Nintendo than Motorola so it might work as a collaboration if anything.

I think that all of the features that I listed that the DS has are coming sooner or later to the iPod. Especially, Wifi. The ability to purchase songs on the go on a iPod would be too tempting for Apple to pass up. I recently got a DS Lite and the online gaming is a model for how simple Wifi implementation on the iPod could be.

Also, if Apple did actually buy/merge with Nintendo it would make them a force in the gaming market and they would be a rival to Sony and Microsoft on the console and more games could come to Mac. I think it would be a bonus if they plan on dominating our living rooms as the rumors say...

DS LitePod :p on paper looks better than the ROKR, to me at least :D .

I think that they don't even need a new DS Lite. They could just make a GBA or DS cartridge with iPod functionality on it similar to the Play-Yan I mentioned earlier. This and the Opera browser cartridge would make the DS Lite extremely competitive with the PSP.