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Actually, I do believe the DS lost about $400 million in sales last year.

context would also have to include the DS's 6th year, obviously, so the 400m dollar drop is natural, do you have the dollar amount DS grossed in its second year?

Then tell me what the blue ocean strategy is. Unless I'm thinking wrong, its getting people into gaming that are not typical gamers, and monetizing them. You know, the console people that never tried a video game system that bought a Wii or DS, the stay-at-home moms that became addicted to Farmville. Correct? If so, I don't see how titles on iOS can reach tens of millions of people that may not of been gamers and not be considered blue ocean.

1: iPhone cannot be blue ocean and cannibalize on DS sales at the same time (which it isn't doing. they're still two different markets). that should be obvious.

2: iPhone is currently in a blood red ocean: Symbian, Android, and RIM make smartphones too, remember? all of them are pretty evenly matched in terms of market share and all of them have their own app market. if iPhone does cannibalize sales, it'll be from this market, not the traditional gaming market.

3: blue ocean strategy includes the ability to offer something valuable to the customer that others cannot. angry birds may be valuable, but who cares if its on the other systems?

4: apple is an integrated software/hardware company, but not a gaming company. therefore, they cannot control the downstream/upstream aspect of the video game market, which is vital in BSO.

5: apple is not targeting anybody with their games. they are selling games to their smartphone userbase (which is different than gaming consoles. remember, wii sold because of games like wii sports, and ds only became a sales powerhouse after games like NSMB came out). and their smartphone user base typically does not fall in line with stay-at-home-moms (what would they need with a cell phone?), grandparents, and whomever else people scapegoat for the wii's success. maybe i'm wrong, though. maybe iPhone's demographic is outside the typically 20-50 tech savvy age group but i doubt it.

Ah. I see your point. I do agree the iPhone does have some hardware issues that hold it back as a gaming device. However, I believe it makes up for it due to interface, ease of use, and the app market which makes it more mainstream. Its like arguing that Flash is a bad medium for games. Of course it is, but you can't deny that its low barrier to entry, just like the App Stores, can cater to an audience that likes plug-n-play ability.

everything the iPhone does is so it can be a better smartphone, not a game console. interface and "ease of use" are not necessary in a game console. the app market would include software that is not gaming software, which would also have negative effect (even if its a small one) on the gamer experience.

And despite the flaws, I find it amazing that the iPhone can offer games that are better than the DS or PSP in titles like Chinatown Wars or the DS Port of Final Fantasy III.

better? you mean they sell better? that could mean anything. aside from that, the two titles are low budget spinoffs and don't really translate into the iPhone's success in favor of ds's doom.

i own sega products and i believe the future is NOT as you described, not even close. i must be a sega fanboy. whatever. it's not important.

Then why does your profile say you mostly own Nintendo products? Why is it that when I check your profile for recent posts, your usually in the Nintendo forum? It says you own a GC, Wii, DS and other Nintendo devices, but I saw no mention of Sega.

 since you're so thorough, you should probably check the years i was an active member here, and the date of my posts. it would show that i was here before sega games were easy to find and add to the games profile. i did it once and it was hassle. never again. besides, it's not important. unless you can somehow correlate how me buying nintendo products translates into me automatically disagreeing with you that the iPhone (or any smartphone) will destroy the DS (or any handheld gaming console)