With the recent influx of advertising campaigns promoting both the iPhone and iPod Touch as gaming devices, like the declaration that the latest Touch is the "funnest (sic) iPod ever" specifically showcasing its wide array of games, it's perhaps escaped us that Apple isn't entirely comfortable with its newfound position as a major player within the gaming industry.
Though rumors suggesting Apple might be considering launching a home console of sorts were rife long before the App Store was on the scene, developers who have worked with the giant on the iPhone have recently been dropping hints that Apple would rather consumers didn't focus on the gaming aspect of both the Touch and iPhone.
That's according to a story posted on Apple Insider. The site quoted id's John Carmack as stating that working with Apple was like a “roller coaster ride”, primarily because its execs aren't happy with the popularity with gaming on the two systems.
This comes just days after Carmack had given a similar impression during an interview with Slide to Play, in which Doom's creator suggested that Apple has an almost tumultuous relationship with developers. “My relationship with Apple was a bit of a roller coaster, where every couple of years Steve Jobs wants me to go do a keynote or something, and they're really nice to me for a while, and then if I say something negative in a press interview about Apple, then I go onto the shit list for six months,” he told us.
Carmack has since gone even further, telling Kotaku that Apple is “not proud of the iPhone being a game machine, they wish it was something else.”
Yet, whether Apple approves or not, the iPhone and iPod Touch have been eating into the market share of both the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. Analysts have gone as far as to suggest that the iPhone and iPod Touch will essentially lead the handheld market creatively for the foreseeable future. Just what Apple will do with such a position of power in an apparent atmosphere of discontent remains to be seen, but we're personally hoping for a quick rebuttal followed by a series of "isn't gaming great" adverts. Wishful thinking, we know.
11 Comments
The reason they're not comfortable with it, is because they weren't ready for the iDevices to be this popular, so they weren't ready to deal with all this gaming stuff that they hadn't done before. This is all new to them so I can see why they'd be uncomfortable.
Word on the street is that Steve Jobs, in particular, has always disliked gaming. If Steve doesn't like something, it's difficult for Apple to get behind it 100%.
Yeah but didn't he say that the reason there's no iPod touch w/ a camera this year is so that more people could play games on it? Or did I misinterpret that?
Yes, you make millions out of something, you are not comfortable with?
Haha, speculations...nothing but speculations.
I'm sure, Apple is VERY happy with the situation right now ;)
Apple is at an all-time record in proft and is basically killing Nokia, mobile phone providers have higher and safer revenues because of increased subscribers to long term plans, game developers like Gameloft are at an all time peak, customers are happy because everything cost less since it can be sold to an incredibly wide customer base.....still Apple isn't happy? please, stop being whiners...it's a win-to-win situation, don't fix what isn't broken
It's not strictly true that it's killing Nokia, mind. You might be surprised by market share figures, despite the iPhone's obvious success.
1) Market share doesn't make you rich.
2) Nokia is doing a plenty good job of killing themselves. Their massive worldwide handset market share is theirs to lose.
I think Nokia still has much currency in Europe, iPhone - and smartphones in general - is in a different market entirely to most of Nokia's output, which appeals to older folk, and those who want their phones as simple as possible.
Now it is time to Steve Jobs retire. If it is true that he doesn't like games, he should retire.
Another point that Apple should do is to put the Newton fiasco behind and move to the next round. If their desire was to make iPhone more than a gaming device, they should have raise the bar for games and make them the minority on the Appstore. Now it is a little too late for that. I said about Newton fiasco because with a declaration like that, it seems that they are trying to compensate the problem with Newton with iPhone, and games don't help with that task. IPhone became a entertainmemt device, not a corporate or business device as they apparently wish.
I don't know but it seems odd to complain about something that is doing so well. Put the Newton complex behind you guys, behind you....
So Apple all but cripples the functions that would make business oriented apps on the iPhone really useful and then they're sad when the only thing that takes off is the games. Asshats. They made their bed now they have to lie in it!
...oh wait, *I* have to lie in it too :(
See, this sort of post annoys me just a bit. One of the big reasons I'll be buying myself an iPod Touch for Christmas is the wealth of good-looking gaming apps I've been seeing recently. The other half is its function as a portable movie player. So I don't know what it is Apple *wants* iPod Touch to be, but handheld-multimedia-and-gaming-device is what it's become, and that's what I want!
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