PDAs And Mobile Phones vs. Gameboy

from the the-battle-for-market-share dept

Here's an article suggesting that while Nintendo has dominated the handheld gaming market with its Gameboy - and is poised to continue to do so with the new Gameboy Advance, they may be facing a growing challenge from PDAs and mobile phones. Adults are already used to carrying around those devices (and not Gameboys). There are already a few companies out there who make games (generally games that are targeted at adults who want to waste a few minutes - not play for hours). Also, as these devices get more powerful and have better screens, they'll be able to do more with games. Finally, these devices will (or already do) have wireless connections to play networked games - which Gameboy doesn't have. Of course, Nintendo disagrees with all of this saying they know gaming, and since PDAs and mobile phones aren't designed specifically for gaming, they have an inherent disadvantage. To some extent, that's definitely true. The point that Nintendo is missing, however, is that these PDAs and mobile phones don't have to be the best portable gaming machines out there - they just have to be good enough that it's not worth buying a Gameboy.