Apple failed in the 90’s selling someone else’s rebranded console. That was then, now Apple has the financial resources to buy or contract with what it doesn’t have in house (eg, games developers, etc). Should it? Is this already in the pipeline? The Apple TV with a few extra chips would be a good start. What about handhelds? Downloadable games sold through iTunes?
Apple’s games strategy looks beyond consoles and the iMac
It’s no secret that Apple Inc. has been on a hardware tear. In the last year alone, there has been a flurry of developments: The company branched into the mobile phone arena with the iPhone. It reinvented the mp3 player with the introduction of the iPod Touch. It worked its way into living rooms with an updated Apple TV.
But Apple is now exploring another hardware technology that has the potential to realign a multibillion dollar industry.
Apple has once again got an itch for gaming.
[…]
A trademark extension filed last February with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is one of the strategy’s biggest tells. The filing extends Apple’s trademark in regards to:“Toys, games and playthings, namely, hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games.”
And here’s the really sneaky part – the iPod Touch and the iPhone are already fully capable of playing games.
Apple should be much more active about encouraging and facilitating other companies with developing games for the mac, iPhone and and iPod. But they shouldn’t make their own console. Three players in that field is enough.
Why not? I believe that in some point, DVR and Games Consoles will merge into one device and as the iPhone was the natural evolution for the iPod, the Apple Console will be the evolution of the Apple TV.
The quality of game developers is critical, though.
I’ve been involved with the tiniest bit of beta testing of games on the DirecTV DVRs. The boring threshold can be reached quickly and easily.
Simply dropping product into a dynamic marketplace doesn’t guarantee success.
For fucks sake, NO! Game developers already have a hard enough time creating good games for the big 3.
I have a 4G iPod, and will replace it only after it dies. I don’t understand why people would watch videos (or play games) on small screen iPods; the picture’s too small. Personally, I won’t buy an iPhone, as that requires me to connect to AT&T, which is a lousy cell phone provider (personal experience with their billing practices).
IMHO the Macs should be Apple’s game machines.
hmmm interesting, this could be just what the so PC market needs to compete with the console platform.
A closed (as in Mac) high end gaming system
The amount of $$$ in the gaming industry is just astronomical and will continue to grow.
Steve Jobs, being the egomaniac he is, will no doubt do it.
Though the Mac/Jobs haters are as involved with off-topic genital augury as ever, I especially have to thank Pedro for his triumphant crocodile tears shed over Apple’s stock price a few months back.
I got in at the bottom (for a change) and made 50%.
I would love to see Apple have it’s fair share of games, but also I don’t want to see them in Nintendo’s boat where only they are the serious ones making games (well ubisoft is making great games for the wii, but you get my drift) and understand the mechanics of their system. I am talking about ipods and their home computer systems.
YES. Sony, Microsoft, Netflix, ect. have all been struggling with getting into your living room. The X-Box is a gaming machine, but M$ wants it to be so much more, i.e., the mechanism for purchasing all of your movies, music, ect. That’s the gaming approach to your living room.
Steve has put his efforts into building a great “jukebox” (iTunes), a delivery system for music, tv and movies, signing up content and developing devices for watching/listening/communicating –Apple Tv, iTouch, iPhone.
If he can make a “killer” gaming machine, Apple will have captured, imho, the golden ring. Defeating X-box, playstation, ect. Imagine, your the company that the consumer turns to for purchasing all of its music, tv shows, movies and other entertainment. That’s what they all want to be; Apple is leading the pack and by hybriding Apple Tv with gaming – Apple may well win the race.
P.S. Add on DVR for the triple crown win.
Well, Apple is a hardware company that also makes an OS based on Unix. Will they be content to push out hardware for a game platform while leaving the game software development (and silly profits) to other companies ? M$ only got into the console game (at substantial losses) to wait for the windfall of software profits …
The X-box 360 and the PS3 are capable gaming consoles. They are also much more then that. They can become media players for your networked media but also can allow you to purchase HD movies online (in time, but capable).
The Apple TV is lacking in the fact it has no games what so ever… it is a smart move from Apple if they can provide games worth while. The gaming market has big players but there is obviously enough money to go around… Look at the Nintendo Wii. It only brings a novelty with it’s controllers while the games are geared to young children… it’s still a success!
If Apple can make good games materialize for it’s console, add to that the media player, add to that HBO content on demand…
Forget game consoles, Apple should move into producing cars.
“electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only”
That’s not a gaming console… Or is it a game that ships with both the console version (Apple Tv ??) and the portable version (iTouch, iPhone).
“And here’s the really sneaky part – the iPod Touch and the iPhone are already fully capable of playing games.”
I call “bullshit” – ok there are a few crappy cell-phone style games that run on the iPod, and some crappy web-based games for the iPhone, but neither are capable of running games such as those for the PSP or Nintendo DS.
And Apple TV is still a joke – wow I can watch youtube on my TV. Big deal. Virtually every cable set-top box has more functionality that Apple TV. Add a web-browser and a HD-DVR and then Apple will have a useful product.
It’s taken Microsoft billions to develop the XBOX 360, and they had to bribe Take Two to make GTA IV available for it. I can imagine Apple coming out with a beautiful-looking game box, with a stunning user interface – then they’d refuse to let anyone except Apple develop games for it.
I don’t see Apple making a game console. But the iphone/ipod touch with the new atom chip will be next “got to have” handheld game machine. Big lines to get Spore for iphone / touch this christmas.
The apple gaming console would be like this: it would cost twice as much as the 360/PS3, it would have a fraction of the gaming library, and it would be a vastly underpowered machine. Those who bought it would talk in smug tones about how superior their machine is, how pretty the box looks, but never talk about how well the software runs or how fun the games are.
They should concentrate on getting their PCs into more peoples hands before they enter another field and fail yet again.
Other than the iPod/iPhone, their hardware has been far, far, far from successful.
Hmm, you know the first thought that came to mind was their 1-button mouse.
Lets see them try the 1-button joypad.
The demos at the Apple event by EA and Sega caught people off guard over the platform’s capabilities. I’ve also shown parts of the video to IT management and analysts (the Outlook integration, Salesforce, and Epocrates demos) and all of them figure that it’s just a matter of time before they start replacing their Blackberries.
I don’t think the game console guys are worried but the handheld guys (PSP, Gameboy) should be. They need a killer game like Halo was for the XBox. Maybe Spore will be it.
I thought the idea for the One-Button Mouse came from Apple’s One-Fingered “Customer Service” responses to motherboards with soldered-on clock batteries, that when they died, Apple demanded that the Customer BUY AN ENTIRE MOTHERBOARD TO REPAIR !!! (Batteries soldered to the unit and not replaceable – iPod anyone ???) This is why I will NEVER BUY AN APPLE PRODUCT !!!
This makes no sense. Apple makes their hay by providing a great user interface and experience in markets where consumers currently don’t one. That would not be the case in console games. A game *IS* the UI, there are no popular games with a bad UI. It can’t happen. Therefore Apple brings nothing to this party.
A much more interesting discussion would be about Microsoft making a new PC OS based on the XBox, which runs so much better than Vista.
This makes no sense. Apple makes their hay by providing a great user interface and experience in markets where consumers currently don’t have one. That would not be the case in console games. A game *IS* the UI, there are no popular games with a bad UI. It can’t happen. Therefore Apple brings nothing to this party.
A much more interesting discussion would be about Microsoft making a new PC OS based on the XBox, which runs so much better than Vista.
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