I don't think you can patent a controller for an iPhone/Android device. There's already dozens out there, they're all just ridiculously over priced and there's no singular one that's brought unity to the ecosystem.

Say Apple wanted to make an official controller seeing Nintendo making good money off theirs ... what are you going to do? Sue Apple for making a controller for their own phone?

It could work in the sense that Nintendo could lock their own games to their own controller, and as such more people would probably be apt to buy that one. But they can't really stop others from making a controller, I don't think that would work out.

Apple would LOVE to have full blown Nintendo console games on their devices and would do everything to help Nintendo, not compete with them.

Might want to be careful how much Apple loves Nintendo. Apple has a mountain full of cash just waiting to buy out a company (or three or four), lol. Their investors are putting pressure on them to do something with all that cash.

the originial yes, but XCX was a whopping 22 gigs which is the one i was referrring to

Off topic: Disney has a ton of cash too and said they dream of the day Mickey and Mario stand side by side. Maybe Disney shut down game production because Nintendo is going to take over for them.

On topic: Google, Amazon, Apple, Sony and even Microsoft would bend over backwards to have Nintendo games available to their customers.

Nintendo could make their games playable on other devices without going third party, by requiring Nintendo hardware to play those games. A first step in that direction would be to concentrate on mobile devices first.

There are ways to do the same with XCX and more complicated games. 

The thing is, most people who play games on their touchscreen devices who are not console or PC gamers have never touched a controller in their lives. That means constollers with buttons and sticks are kinda scary to them. Heck even PC gamers who've always played with KB+M are uncomfortable with the idea of having to learn how to use a controller. 

So, in the mobile market it's going to be very hard to get people who don't already use controllers to buy games for mobile that need a controller and hence to buy a controller. Would I buy a controller for my mobile phone in order to play Nintendo games? Maybe. But there are few Nintendo games I actually really want to play, and all of the 3rd party games I want to play are on platforms I already have, and using viewing a me thod I prefer (TV or PC screen).

If Nintendo has a mobile strategy it needs to be games that can be played with touchscreen controls. If Nintendo's pathway to profitability is selling controllers for use on mobile ohones then they have really gone astray.

Phones aren't nor ever will be the future of gaming.

No controller? no big screen? No gaming.

Big screen and controller? It's not a mobile device.

Streams to TV? Lag in responsiveness.

If it has a controller it won't sell as well as a regular phone.

It's a physical impossibility.

I was thinking about the same idea since the first crossover rumours. they could release an android based handheld with games controlled with buttons and games only played with touch. then release an appstore for mobile devices with exact same games. new user would play touch only but at the same time they would see a massive list of unplayable games  which they could play if they buy an extra nintendo gamepad. 

but if they do this then I would like to keep backward compatible to ds / 3ds so the gamepad need a second screen and some kind of battery to boost smartphone gaming time. 

look at this device, it exist for real:

the android handheld they could keep in it's 3ds fashion and for the phones they could release a gamepad which represents the lower parts of this device to turn the phone in a real handheld.

Is proof that any console game can go to mobile, if anything, not just Nintendo