Apple Claims iPod Touch Number One Portable Game Player
iPod Touch, "Best Portable Game Player"
Although Apple’s iPod Touch and iPhone might not be internationally recognized as a practical video game device, Steve Jobs, the company’s CEO, sure seems to think so.
During Apple’s event in San Francisco, CEO Steve Jobs called it the number one portable game player on the market, before announcing the new iPod generation. He claims it has over 50% of the market-share for portable game players in the United States and worldwide, boasting of 1.5 billion downloads of games and entertainment titles for the device through iTunes. It outsells Nintendo and Sony’s portable game players combined, and “It’s been amazing.”
This may sound impressive at first sight, but there are a lot of factors that he is leaving out. The iPod Touch is a very popular and capable multimedia device. There is no argument in saying that many people buy the iPod with the sole intention of using it for music and video storage. So, while it may outsell both Nintendo’s and Sony’s portable device, it is not yet known if most of those purchases are even for the game. Who is to say that most of the people that purchase the device even make use of any of the gaming functions made available to them.
Another factor to keep in mind, many of the titles on iTunes sell for 99 cents with many rarely breaching the $10 point. This affordability, no doubt, accounts for millions of downloads world wide, even though most of the games that one may experience are rubbish. The iTouch is not even competitive in terms of practicality, considering that many of the games hone poorly thought out or awkward controls. So his boasting is a little premature, I believe. He should wait until the iPod matures a bit in terms of practicality when playing video games.
Jobs then went on to unveil the latest iteration of the iPod Touch, boasting of a smaller frame and less weight. The new iPod Touch will have a higher resolution, Apple’s new A4 processor, HD video recording and support for the new Game Center. For those of you living under a rock, the upcoming Apple Game Center is a multiplayer service that aims to provide a unified online gaming network for players across the thousands of titles available on iTunes.
The new iPod Touch will be shipping next week with support for Game Center out the box.
