Nintendo-Apple merger? Don't hold your breath. [update 1]

So many words written here and no one's mentioned that an itunes-ready DS lite would sell like hotcakes.

(But I agree that Apple will never buy Nintendo.)

@the_game_master

Although I hate macs (mainly due to the arrogance of the users), even I have to admit they are wildly succesful. You call a 61 BILLION dollar compnay, a good billion over Dell (the former number 1 computer seller), fledgling? That's beyond moronic.

This is something Nintendo would NEVER do.

The corporate philosphies (and functions) are far too different to be harmoneously merged.

It just doesn't make sense. With the introduction of the budget-priced Wii, Nintendo will be able to stand strong with or without help.

Wait, I'm tied for 5th...how would we decide who gets to punch you? :)

I'm pretty sure there isn't going to be any Apple/Nintendo merger, either. Nintendo didn't sell when they were hurting, I highly doubt they're going to do merge when it looks like they're on a pretty good upswing.

Epic:

Now you're arguing the same non-sensical position that became old a year ago. Sega abandoned hardware because they were losing hundreds of millions of dollars a year for many years. Nintendo have struck the balance of hardware leveraging their software that makes them the MOST profitable company in the industry.

If you want to look at a company much more likely to "pull a Sega", you only have to look across the street at Redmond. Microsoft is far more likely to pull out of consoles, having never turned a profit (they did have more money coming in than going out for a brief period in Q4 2004). They've lost in excess of 4 billion dollars to date, with no realistic end to their losses in sight, and their strategy is what we call REAL risk: spending billions on loss leading hardware pushing the boundries of manufacturing in an attempt to out-Sony Sony in a domain it utterly controls. Nintendo's strategy has recently been far from risky: take PSP Vs DS. If PSP had utterly failed it would have cost Sony at least a billion in development, marketing, developer pan-handling etc. and wasted far more of their precious time and R&D resources. The DS meanwhile cost Nintendo relatively little in terms of just about everything, and they could have 'happily' adapted with a new system had it utterly failed. They Innovated and did it cheaply. This concept is utterly beyond Phil Harrison and most of MS. Generally they equate R&D expenditure to innovation. It isn't. I'd call Nintendo's strategy "Adventurous" rather than "Risky".

Back on point: Given Nintendo's entrenched audience it's hard to imagine that they could ever fall below 15 million sales on a console. This is enough to keep them profitable. Interestingly it's questionable if Sony could command such loyalty without 3rd parties, having essentially moot 1st party presence. If 3rd parties abbandoned the Playstation ship, PS3 could very well sink Sony.

In all likeliehood, if Nintendo abandonned hardware development and worked as a thrid party, they'd see a drastic reduction in software sales, through a combination of competing software available on other platforms, an inability to direct hardware n a way that suits the software, and fans being turned off the industry in general. They'd also see further reduced profits, owing to payment of royalties (yes kids, don't forget this is how Sony make their money). They may very well be worse off.

Just look at Sega: Sure, they're finally profitable, but hardly the dominating 3rd party software powerhouse they planned to be (13th on Next-gen's list of publishers). They've lost something special -just one of the crowd. Even Yuji Naka knows it.

Well, reading about Mickeysoft wanting to buy Nintendo, they bought Rare, probably my 2nd favourite developer to Nintendo themselves. And I still can't get over that.

"...but I was looking forward to the iWii somewhere down the line =("

BEST POST OF THE ENTIRE LIST OF COMMENTS!!

the_game_master:

Don't talk anymore on stuff you know nothing about.

Nintendo market value, March 2006: USD 18.6 billion

Apple Computer market value, June 2006: USD 50.2 billion


http://www.gamesindustry.biz/content_page.php?aid=13814

http://quotes.nasdaq.com/Quote.dll?symbol=AAPL&symbol=dell&mode=stock&multi.x=26&multi.y=4

http://homepage.mac.com/planetpm/macgamecube/exploration.html There's a lot of eerie similaraties in there...

Nintendo isn't a memeber of a Keiretsu in japan.

Eventually all companies will be either merge or be bought out by larger companies. This is the flaw in the corporate system that negates the rules of free market economics. This is one of the reasons that capitalism is unsustainable, problem is we are living in its zenith so it's easy to believe it's eternal but we'll all probably be dead before it finally collapses.

Anon:

I do tend to say to people:

"If microsoft wanted, they could dominate the trampoline market by outcompeting everyone at ridiculously low prices and assume permenant control, pushing any new competitors out - and that they could do this to practically any industry"

However, people do like at least a small base level of choice, and there will always been home-grown alternatives. Homegrown alternatives have a knack of doing things the homogenised consolidated corperations can't, and can find success through that. In this way there isn't really an end to development or diversity of companies. However, a particular industry may very well be overcome. This leads to stagnation, and for non-essential items, such as entertainment, consumer apathy and disinterest. Which tends to cause industry colapse. If you look at industry economic trends, it's never a straight line of ever increasing wealth: it comes in waves of growth and collapse.

Yes I suppose a company can amass so much wealth that it can continually weather these, but that's why we also have goverment regulation. Even the United states isn't a complete free for all, and it's democracy that (eventually) keeps the free market in check.

When everyone works at wallmart and wallmert decides to lower wages, the people will vote an administration that forcebly disassembles wallmart.

Besides, it's fairly obvious to anyone who prognosticates 40 years into the future that we would attain immortality if it weren't for the machines taking over; long before a single corperate entity controls ABSOLUTELY everything.

Never believed it for a second. Anyone who did is crazy.

48.
You are correct on both counts.
Let me clarify some of the point I was trying to make:
The Sega Genesis lead in marketshare did come during the SNES era. However, in Japan, the Super Famicom easily retook marketshare, to an estimated 90-95%. In the US, a late release and supply problems did give the Genesis a majority market. However, in annual sales, the SNES eventually overtook the Genesis in sales. All in all, more segas were sold than nintendos in the US, but worldwide, the SNES outsold the Genesis.

Also the handheld market has grown significantly since the introduction of the GBA.
In a 12 year period, iterations of the GameBoy sold about 170 million units, from 1989 to 2001 (includes GBColor). This averages to a sale of about 14.16 million units per year. The GBA and subsequent DS sales since 2001 have amounted to about 93.73 million units, averaging 18.75 million units per year. The Gameboy Advance SP was the fastest selling console ever. Assuming Nintendo continues to feed the market with new products and the sale rate averages the same, in a 12 year period, GBA and successors will sell 225 million units, a 32 percent increase.
Compared to console sales, the Playstation series has sold 205.6 million units since its introduction 12 years ago.
The PSP has shipped 17 million units, I'm not sure how many have been sold.
The NES and SNES combined sold about 89 million units (main competitor was the Genesis which sold about 35 million)
The N64 sold 32 million, followed by the GC's 20.85 million.
The xbox sold 22 million.

I mistakenly said that Nintendos marketshare has grown considerably. A more accurate statement is that overall Nintendo sales have grown considerably. However, their sales have not kept up with the market's whole growth, mostly credited to the Playstation series, and some to the Xbox.
It's difficult to break it down into pre and post GBA eras, since it overlaps so much, but here's an attempt:
Pre GBA (Playstation (1994), N64 (1996), and Gameboy Color (1998))
Nintendo marketshare about 45 percent, Sony 55 percent

Nintendo's marketshare may be slightly higher, since I didn't include regular Gameboy units sold, since it was a system that really belongs to the NES, SNES, Genesis, Gamegear era (and I can't find that data, lol)

Post GBA (PS2 (2000), Xbox (2001), Xbox 360 (2005), Gamecube (2001), Gameboy Advance (2001), Nintendo DS (2004), PSP (2005, est. 15 million sold))
Nintendo: 44.34 percent
Sony: 45.96 percent
Microsoft: 9.7 percent

From this rough breakdown, it looks like Nintendo has actually lost overall marketshare since the GBA introduction, although not nearly as much as Sony. Microsoft obviously did nothing but gain marketshare.

Sorry if I misled anybody in my previous post, and thanks to epobirs for pointing my mistakes out.
Most of my information comes from Wikipedia, so anyone is welcome to check my numbers. I have no idea if the Wikipedia numbers are accurate or not, but I am assuming they are.

Also, I only vaguely remember hearing that the GBASP was the fastest selling console ever. I did not check that info before posting. Sorry.

Some other guy wrote: "If Apple bought Nintendo it would lead to overpiced Nintendo products that attrack fingerprints and break when you drop them, with no user replacable batteries. Don't forget the Pikachu themed iPod."

ITS SO TRUE

I myself am quite anti-mac and quite pro-Nintendo

Um, The_Game_Master:


Is backing up what I write with factual links 'fanboyism' now?

Look at my links... Your uninformed Apple/Nintendo comments are open for disection. In fact, you got owned, so calm down and research what you're writing next time.

I don't mind if you hate Macs, that's opinion, so no grudges from me there - but you should take it a little better when you get schooled, pal - you had the companies' pecking order backward, and I posted some links to prove it.

Stop hurting yourself: let it lay.




.

^^Kevin and ill trooper

I guess you didn't realize that I don't care what facts you bring, I make it my goal to bad mouth Apple at every moment I can, no matter what and you why, its because I enjoy doing it, and I know it makes you Mac fanboys squirm when you hear some negative thrown at you, when you know deep down its the truth.


Truth is about Apple is that their computers offer nothing that a PC can easily do better, and inexpensively.

Apple attract dummies, people who know nothing about computer hardware and are easily suckered into putting 2K down for a piece of shit hardware.

You Mac fanatics willingly enjoy being milked by Apple

The Mac hardware is nothing more than glorified PC hardware covered with shitty casing. Intel Inside Macs, get that shit out here!

I'll give the company less than 6 years when they give up on the computer business and focus on their shitty ipod making.

Am I a Sony fanboy? Don't really consider myself that but, I also like Nintendo, Microsoft, and every other company under the sun but not rip ass Apple.

You Mac fanboys are disgusting. Your company is total trash and I foretell them tanking in the computer industry.

Wait... would Joystiq cover my airfare to go to this gut punching, or would I have to spring for my own tickets?

First things first... we have to mention the Pippin before we begin anything else. If you're asking what that is, then you don't know why Apple isn't going to touch the console business. That alone makes it extremely unlikely that Apple would be interested in any video game company.

The Apple-buys-Nintendo rumor has been shot down by enough, so let me go after the converse, the Nintendo-buys-Apple rumor. Given that Big N is currently trying to affirm as loudly as possible that they're all about the games and are trying to focus on that, it really doesn't make sense to have them pick up a company that doesn't do games at all. I don't see Apple fitting into their corporate vision at all.

Each of the running hardware platforms co-occupy several specific markets. And each promote features beyond their competitors'. What may they and others think about when planning strategy?

Among "options" for wonder, of any platform, are:
connectivity, integrative ability, modifiability, video&audio, security, stability, portability, power draw, Controls;
Provisions of hardware, software and service;
Quality of design, dedication and commitment - manufacturers, producers, designers, and publishers;
Market ambience - genres, community, longevity, and stability;
And price - platform, games, and options.

If we don't know who will merge and who won't, it's clear to me that certain entities will have, more than others, a lot of money and influence when all this is said and done with.

And those various "corporate philosophies", while certainly disparate, are a factor so far from being known that a plan toward their formalisation has yet to even exist. Any speech on the topic that doesn't address it to that end is beyond ignorance.

The fact is if Apple bought out nintendo I would not buy nintendo any more. I have nothing against the mac life style it just isn't me.

Fact of the matter is Mac People are right VISTA is crap, it is a resource hog just to look pretty with its new 3d transparent windows. Bill Gates figures if M.S. makes a Pretty GUI everyone will forget the buggy piece of garbage the software is. That being said, I don't like the mac hardwear at all. If you want to act like your new Duo chip Imac runs faster than a pc at the same compareble price go ahead, but it doesn't. My friend is a complete computer nut, and computer gaming freak, while he loves the Mac OS, the hardware is beyond not worth the price. I don't buy expensive machinary to look cool, if I did I would own an IPOD and a PSP.

I like nintendo because it is affordable high quality gaming on the go. Make no mistake, the mac way of life is high quality, but it is not better than windows. It is a difference, in your computing way of life that is all. Yet the mac way of life is damned expensive, and I am not shelling out 300 dollars for a DS cause apple says it is the best thing on the market. Sorry that is what they do, so if Apple bought nintendo they could really just say good bye to me. I mean I am only one voice but that is my opinion.

P.S. Everytime mac fans flame a windows person for saying the hardware is not as fast or the machines are to expensive, you don't piss us off. You just solidfy the constant thought that Steve Jobs put something in the Kool-Aid and you guys drank it. Nobody that uses their computers and does actual gaming or work on it is defending windows and Bill gates. In the same token just becaue you mac fans took crap from windows people at one point don't mean we intend on taking that crap back! No one is going to agree Apple is god cause it is popular so get over yourselves.

Second, alot of you current apple "FANS" are freaking fake ass switchers who have just now jump on the bandwagon since you seen 50cent and Paris Hilton with the items. In 2000 when I entered college, my computer labs were filled with IMACS, when the dells were all filled to capcity with people trying to use the computers I would go over to the Imacs which had better screen real estate, and do my papers and surf the net with ease. My girl one time saw me walk over to the macs and screamed at the top of her lungs "OH MY GOD DON'T TOUCH THOSE THINGS NEVER NEVER NEVER!" when I tried to explain how cool they were I was literally shunned. NOw fast forward six years, She is the biggest Mac Zealot I know claiming all PCs are crap, not WINDOWS but all PCs.

You Mac people are trying to make a war of YOU against US, only problem is windows people give not a DAMN about windows we only give a damn about an enviorment where we can do what we want when we want at our convenience. Which means while you guys are defending Steve jobs, when the next break through in computing comes out we will jump ship, and not look back because we aren't defending a company just our way of life. It is the samething behind sony fanboys, or nintendo fanboys, or Xbox fanboys. Defending a company is silly defending the best option for your life style brillant.

Like Sony and Honda, Nintendo is not part of a Keiretsu (you could have found that out just by reading the very Wikipedia entry you linked to) as well as a dozen other resources. What makes conventional takeovers hard in Japan is government laws that make outright foreign ownership nearly impossible to achieve. Keiretsu has nothing to do with that. So, yes, an outright American takeover of a major Japanese brand is pretty much impossible but not because of the reason you mention.

And companies making profits get taken over all the time. There is a reason, after all, that they have value. That reason doesn't fly either.

No, the reason that it won't happen is because Nintendo's brand is too strong and unique to go all North California Feng Shue (sp?) on us.

Such a deal makes no business sense either. They don't compete in the same markets for the most part and the markets where they could be competing in the future would require a product line to be shut down and all their product lines are too strong.

Major corporate mergers are pretty much out of style, especially ones between too healthy companies who don't really compete with each other.

If they wanted to work with each other to battle MS or Sony, they could do that just as easyly without the legal and corporate culture headaches that go with a merger. You can even make a big time product without actually merging companies. Or perhaps I missed the Sony/IBM/Toshiba (Cell) merger or the Apple/IBM/Motorola (PowerPC) merger or the Microsoft/nVidia (Xbox) merger or the HP/Intel (Itanium) merger.

It’s a pipe dream like the author said, just not really for the reasons stated.

I'm a BIG Nintendo fan, but I hate Apple even more. If the two companies merged, I don't think that I could forgive Nintendo...