John Gruber on Nintendo:
…if Nintendo’s hardware platforms are doomed, I think they’re doomed no matter what. Nintendo producing iOS games isn’t going to accelerate the demise of DS handhelds. Better to get a foothold in the new world as soon as possible, to do it before it’s too late.
A good piece by John exploring the comparisons of Nintendo to other companies. Particularly striking to me was the analogy of Apple creating iTunes for Windows; even Apple—the kings of lock-in—recognised a situation where they had to go to users, rather than users come to them.
I threw out a similar idea last week, after the furore of the 2DS release and Federico Viticci’s piece on how Apple pundits misunderstand Nintendo. I don’t think Nintendo experimenting with development of new games, and new properties—built from the ground up for touch, or iOS—will hurt their current efforts.
They don’t have to make a Mario game straight away, but I think they’d be wise to take some of their lower-tier franchises and run the experiment. That’s why I think something like WarioWare or Advance Wars would be perfect. How many hidden Nintendo fans (like me) would a game like that uncover? How many copies would they sell even if the price was high for a mobile game, like $15 or $20?
My bet is a lot.