Nintendo merger tops list of the stupidest Apple rumors
by Blake Snow 
{ Dec 28th 2006 at 5:25PM }
A very unlikely -- though always persistent -- Apple/Nintendo merger took the top spot on Cnet's list of the most ludicrous Apple rumors of all-time. Other than the fact that both companies make a lot of money and currently have an unusual fetish for glossy white products, the thought of such a merger is completely baseless, existence of Pippin or not. We hope this honor buries the idea of an Apple/Nintendo hook-up once and for all, but knowing both rabid Apple and Nintendo fans, we doubt it.See also: Nintendo-Apple merger? Don't hold your breath.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shoaib @ Dec 28th 2006 5:31PM
For some reason, i've always thought that an Apple-Sony merger would be the bomb. Just think about it, OSX on the PS3!
Jaystation @ Dec 28th 2006 5:39PM
Shoaib....
Think about adding another $500 to the price tag if that ever happens...
FSK405K @ Dec 28th 2006 5:41PM
I hope that is someone's personal photoshop project, putting the Apple in Mario's hands. It's great!
tack @ Dec 28th 2006 5:45PM
I'd hate to see apple ruin Nintendo. Apple creates over priced trendy products that stupid sheep buy into to make themselves feel better about being just another average idiot.
OSX has more holes than windows, but no one exploits them. What's the point? Create a virus so the 50 morons that own an apple computer get it? Or create a virus that even if it only infects .01% of computers you're still getting millions of people.
Shadow @ Dec 28th 2006 5:47PM
I know this rumor has been around since the dawn of Apple's recent
popularity, but something just struck me as I thought about it this
time around. This would be a merger between two countries in two
different countries. Call me crazy, but that alone would probably be
more of a mess than it would be worth. Not to mention the Japanese
are crazy loyal to their country. If you had to pay to breath
oxygen, and it was an American business selling oxygen...90% of
Japan's population would up and die. With that said, I would see a
lot of Japanese turning their backs on Nintendo if they did this
simply because Apple is an American company.
kimo @ Dec 28th 2006 5:49PM
ZOMG!1!! Apple and Nintendo are merging?!
32_Footsteps @ Dec 28th 2006 5:51PM
The biggest reason why the Ninty-Apple merger myth is so ludicrous is because nobody could adequately explain who would be the moving party.
First off, a straight-ahead merger isn't even on the radar for the two companies. You'd think they'd work together in some fashion before discussing such a thing.
As for a takeover of one over the other... given how financially sound both companies are, but without that much excess, one would basically push itself deep in the red to acquire the other - and doesn't that defeat the purpose of a buyout?
Jonathan @ Dec 28th 2006 5:58PM
For the life of me, I can't understand why everyone says Apple products are overpriced. Maybe one day ages ago that might have been true, but not these days.
If Apple is overpriced, then Dell must also be overpriced, because I can get a MacBook that stat-for-stat meets or exceeds a Latitude for the same if not less money.
And the only MP3 players I've seen with significantly lower prices on a feature-per-feature basis are cheap Chinese knockoffs.
I think "Apple is overpriced" is an even more ignorant statement than "NINTENDO IS TEH KIDDY!!"
epobirs @ Dec 28th 2006 5:56PM
This one will never die. The first time I heard an Apple-Nintendo merger or joint venture rumor was when the Super Nintendo was nearing launch. There were some loons convinced they'd be able to buy an expansion device that would turn a SNES into a Apple IIGS, as if that were a desirable thing.
Mike @ Dec 28th 2006 6:30PM
What the f**k does Zomg mean?????????????
moofree @ Dec 28th 2006 6:13PM
Jonathan: Because there are no bargain basement 300- dollar macs. If you buy a mac nowadays, you're going to be getting a (relatively) mid to high end system.
Mabui @ Dec 28th 2006 6:59PM
See, Nintendo and Apple do have things to offer each other, especially if Apple makes it's Ipod more game savvy.
Myself, I keep noticing the distinct lack of a real mp3 player on the Wii, and when all these rumors began floating around (Even though they are obviously false) I couldn't help but think of Itunes for Wii and the ability to plug and play your Ipod products (managing them through the console) to add even more flavour for the mass market.
Though, Itunes one Wii would be extremely hard on your memory cards and internal memory, considering the kind of content you can get from it.
ill trooper @ Dec 28th 2006 7:13PM
Tack, shut up. Worst Post. Ever. You are SOOOO wrong. Do your research.
That is all.
Grey Acumen @ Dec 29th 2006 9:53AM
I have to admit, I'm rather glad to see someone actually debunk the rumor. I was actually kinda insulted just because it's so retarded that I'd want to slap whoever would think of doing such a thing.
I'm not a serious Apple fan, but I'm not about to diss them, I've seen good things on macs. I am a Nintendo fan though, so I'm actually kinda insulted by the idea that Nintendo would feel the need to merge with anyone.
and if Mike is actually serious, Zomg is just a twist on the basic omg
stevep63 @ Dec 28th 2006 10:03PM
Tack is the dumbest shit I've ever read on this web site. I don't even know where to begin to say how wrong you are with EVERY one of your 'facts'. Needless to say, you're an idiot. Now shut your pie hole and go back to servicing your lord and god, Bill Gates.
samfish @ Dec 29th 2006 10:09AM
As much as I would love to see Nintendo and Apple get together on a project, smart people know Apple will never merge with anybody.
And that includes Sony, for that moron who keeps posting how Apple might start including OS X on Sony Viao laptops.
It makes no sense at ALL for Apple to lease out their OS to other PC hardware sells at this point.
However, a Nintendo/Apple team up would have the potential to rock at epic proportions. At the very least, I wish Nintendo would take a page from Apple and makes THOUSANDS of games playable for the VC, the way music, movies and TV shows are on the iTunes Store.
Brian O'lyaryz @ Dec 30th 2006 1:20AM
The link below
http://brianolyaryz.wordpress.com/2006/09/03/apple-rumor-crushed/
is proof that Apple products are not over-priced. Just cause they don't make low-end systems doesn't mean the systems they make are over-priced.
Apple is a company that cares about their products. They make sure they can make every little detail perfect as possible, to a certain degree.
They are not a "Dell" company that tries to cater to the masses and just wants to hit big numbers, not that there is anything wrong with that. They are just two completely different companies trying to cater to different people.
That's why I think it's a bit moronic when people try to compare the two. (I contradict this statement in the link. But hey, that's what humans do and I sure as heck ain't any different.)
tom @ Dec 29th 2006 12:47AM
The main thing apple and nintendo have in common isn't their shiny white products.. its the fact that mobile phones are going to DESTROY both their core markets in a year or two.
You already have phones that are almost as good music players as the smaler ipods. And mobiles in japan lready play games that are more advanced graphically than the DS.
The only thing really stopping phones absorbing both markets is the lack of decent interface options. The first phone with a d-pad and a touch screen will end all that.
A combined ipod/gameboy would help stave off the phones for a while longer. But maybe the future lies in licensing the platform to phone makers. Sony Ericsson 1003i DS iPhone anyone?
That said.. nintendo probably has more portable media players out there than anyone (except maybe apple). If they could just work out a way to add a sd-card and enable downloads of music, anime, video and games to DS/GBA then they'd have a huge lead in the market (that sony and ms are about to try and create with PS3/PSP and 360/Zune.
Josh* @ Dec 29th 2006 1:47PM
Apple
Sony - Hardware rival
Microsoft - software rival
Nintendo
Sony and Microsoft - Hardware and software rivals
They share common competititors - it at least makes sense.
justin @ Dec 29th 2006 9:12AM
Do the Japanese buy ipods?
samfish @ Dec 29th 2006 10:07AM
Tom, the flaw in your logic is that you're failing to take into account the fact that, to date, people don't LIKE all-in-one devices. They don't sell or aren't used.
Surveys have been done showing, for example, that something like 2% of people watch TV or movies on their iPods. It's even less for people with capable cell phones.
Hence why something like Microsoft's X Box Media Center can have people shouting from the hilltops; it's still gonna flop in the face of something DESIGNED to do just it's specific function...like say...oh, I dunno...Apple's iTV device. People aren't going to run out and buy a 360 or PS3 because they hear it has a great media center system (or Blu-Ray, for that matter).
Or take Blackberrys for example. How many people does anyone know with one of those? One person, maybe at the most? Why is that? iPods show that people have no problem plunking down $350+ on a little electronic device.
Could it be done? Sure! But more than likely, it'll be done if someone like Apple or Nintendo came out with the iPhone of DS Phone, because then you've got a trusted brand name and a trusted product WITH a cool added feature that you can use if you want or not.
The bottom line is that people have ALWAYS perfered devices that do one or two things and do them well, rather than a device that does it all.
Of course, you could try and say that isn't true and point to the Operating System, but to do that, you'd be dealing with a totally different beast.
Kimosabae @ Dec 29th 2006 1:33PM
iPod accessories are VICIOUSLY overpriced. Get your heads outta the fucking sand.
25$ for a plastic Nanon case?
40-50$ for a white, lanyard headphone to wear around your neck, that can't be washed, and consistantly goes dead after about 90 days of regular use?
35$ for a fucking ARMBAND.
That's just off the top of my head.
Get the fuck OUTTA here.
-Kimosabae
Scooby Doo @ Dec 29th 2006 1:43PM
A couple things. First a merger does not have to occur because one or both companies are doing poorly. They are generally done for two reasons: a company wants to reduce competition (Microsoft has done this an awful lot), or they want to broaden their market, (primary examples being the HP/Compaq Merger, or the AMD/ATI merger, at least I think it was ATI.)
That said, one could actually make several arguments that there are benefits for either company. Apple is still the king of the digital music world and like someone already pointed out, wants to get in the game business, while Nintendo is trying to push limited online services on the Wii and could leverage Apple's online presence. The Wii, the DS, and the IPod are all in the trendy, fun, hip category of products so it wouldn't be like their worlds are so dramatically different.
Will it happen though? Almost definitely not. I actually don't think you'd run into the 'watering' of either brand name, however both companies are noted for management that like to do things their way with little outside direction. The cultural differences could probably be overcome but the gains in a true merger would probably also be had by a simple partnership. However it might help the somewhat bad press Apple has just got with their options accounting.
I've actually wondered when Apple and Nintendo will get together for an Ipod/Wii/Itunes project. I could just imagine being able to download music/video directly from Itunes using the Wii browser(I technically use Napster though), store them on an USB hard drive and download them to an Ipod. There are plenty of other questions, but I would expect to see a leveraging of each companies positions well before any real merger talks on the horizon. But still, it's fun to speculate.
betise @ Dec 29th 2006 3:16PM
I like the idea of Apple and Nintedo coming together but let’s see if we can mak it make sense.
#1) FrontRow channel on Wii
Apple is using the opposite tactic with iTV than it did with ipod.. ITMS was orginally a way to tie people to their ipods (and it still is, considering no other mp3 player can use its songs...)
But iTV is just a thing to get people to buy more movies. The movies themselves are the main point.. and can be played back on a greater variety of devices. It benefis Apple to get their ITMS movies onto people’s TVs any way they can. Apple won’t sell 3 million iTVs nearly as fast as Nintedo sold 3m Wiis. Personally this is a solution I’d look forward to. I already have an ipod and imac, I don’t want another $250 box just to move content from one room to another.
Also, just because Wii games only run in 480p, there’s no reason it can’t play a movie at 720p through component cables.
#2) Wii kit for imac/macbook
A USB sensor bar, a standard wii bluetooth remote, and a software DVD. $79.
Since Apple already has a great PowerPC emulator with Rosetta, Wii games (which basically run on a 700mhz g4 and ATI graphics) could easily be emulated. Even easier on iPPC based macs. Even down to maybe ibook g4, considering the Wii’s vram needs are so slim.
The benefit for Apple? Increased iMac and macbook sales appeal. ( think nike+ipod )
For Nintendo? Huge potential install base for greater software and accesory sales. They could probably make more money on the kit than they do on a Wii box. And would probably find they get a lot of cross sales ( like wii owners who want to play games on vacation, so also buy the kit for macbook )
Now THAT would be a nice way for Apple and Nintendo to work together
Jim @ Jan 31st 2007 10:45PM
I would love for this to come true. That way the two most annoying groups of people on earth can come together in one super-cult.