Achieving that kind of market penetration in the gaming industry is admirable, given Apple’s pittance of marketing the iPhone as a gaming machine. With the iPad, Apple had an opportunity to position the device as a solid contender in the gaming arena. But look at Apple’s own promotion on its website. Start with title of the page: “See the web, email, and photos like never before.”
While there were 700+ games available for the iPad over last weekend, these games received third-tier attention from the company. First tier: the iPad is a “magical and revolutionary” device. Second tier: there’s a huge library of apps available – the ones you bought for your iPhone probably work on the iPad, too. Third tier: let’s highlight some iPad-only apps, like The Wall Street Journal and Epicurious. Oh, and a couple of games, too.
Even without Apple’s marketing muscle behind games, that 5% number – $500 million – isn’t something other companies can ignore. So should other console manufacturers be wary of Apple’s new product? Brian Crecente, EIC of Kokatu, wrote an editorial about Nintendo’s reaction to the iPad. He spoke to Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime about the iPad’s potential competition in portable gaming with Nintendo’s new DSi XL. Here’s what Fils-Aime had to say:
Fils-Aime’s reaction to the iPad isn’t specifically about its ability to be a gaming machine, but about the sales channel to distribute the games and how the audience sees value in those purchases. To some degree, he has a point. If you’re downloading games from the app store over 3G/EDGE, the app size limit is 20MB. That’s unlikely to get you an engrossing game experience, unless you’re playing Ultima V through the Commodore 64 emulator app.
I think Apple’s interest isn’t in games, but about blurring the line between portable electronic devices. Fifteen years ago, everybody was talking about “convergence devices” – widgets that connect the information in our lives to make things more convenient. No matter what they’re called, though, they obey a central mission in consumer electronics: give the consumer a device that does useful stuff, and make it convenient to do lots of stuff on the same device. Those devices, Personal Digital Assistants, came from Palm, Blackberry, and even Apple’s Newton. Then the cellphone evolved into the smartphone, incorporating PDA functionality. Apple, on the sidelines, took the mp3 player into the stratosphere with the iPod. Finally, Apple entered the smartphone game.
Continue on to page two of Is The iPad A Gaming Machine?
So how does Apple grab 5% of the games market with a device that’s a smartphone? Simple convenience. Everybody has a cellphone or smartphone, but how much of the time do we actually use these devices to make or receive calls? With the iPhone in millions of pockets, Apple had a captive audience. All they had to do was give users a reason to use the thing for something other than making calls. Waiting in line at the grocery store? Play a five-minute round of Sway. Bored at work with nothing to do? Check out geoDefense.
The app store ties all that convenience together because it’s in every single iPhone. The ability to buy on demand with the tap of a button? How convenient. Apple’s 30% top-line on every transaction? How Apple.
How does the iPad fit alongside the iPhone? You can’t carry the iPad in your pocket. It weighs down your hand after a while, so it’s a little unwieldy without a stand. It’s not meant to take the place of a laptop – you can type with it, but there’s no file system.
The iPad is not only a new product for Apple, but also a new category. No one else is offering something similar. Remember that this isn’t just about games – it’s a new interface paradigm. Apple offers a physical keyboard, just like they offered a wireless DVD connection with the MacBook Air. Chunky keyboards are on the way out.
But aside from the Apple faithful or the early technology adopters, who are iPad’s users? There is no distinct market – the device is an overlap between many different devices. Will an iPad owner, sitting on a sofa, reading the electronic Wall Street Journal, suddenly get a craving for Real Racing HD? Aren’t those two different iPad users?
In many ways, games push technology. Processors need to be faster, graphics chips ever more complicated. Apple introduces the iPad, taking backward steps in speed and display. But the iPad also reinvented the touch-screen display. It’s up to game developers to figure out how to use that technology and make it compelling to iPad users. The killer gaming app is on its way, but it’s probably not going to look like Splinter Cell: Conviction.
Where do you think the iPad will find its gaming niche?
Source: Kokatu
