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Rainbird on 20 September 2011
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Phoeniks.Wright said:
Rainbird said:
Phoeniks.Wright said:

Smartphones are handheld computers. handheld game consoles are portable videogame consoles. Now, PC's don't compete directly with game consoles.

I don't hope you think that the two markets are equivalent and can be compared directly, because that's as bad an assumption as saying the two do compete directly.

Games like Brain Training were huge successes on the DS, but smartphones and tablets might actually be more well suited for such games than the 3DS. Direct competition or not, there is ample opportunity for smartphones to steal marketshare from dedicated handhelds.

@underlined: Actually, I pretty much can. It's easy, why do you buy a PC? Most people do it for stuff like internet access and whatnot. Why do you buy a smartphone? To make calls but also for the PC-like functionalities, which regular phones don't have. In both cases, gaming is a secondary function. Now, why do you buy a games console? Most people will buy it for games. Here gaming is the primary function. The only difference then between the two is wether they're portable or not, but that's it. So maybe there is a tiny amount of competition between the two, but it's so small it's insignificant, they exist in largely seperate markets.

@bolded: Using brain training as an example, true it isn't suited for the 3DS, but neither is it for smartphones and tablets. Do you really see older people buying smartphones or tablets? It is much easier to just go into a store, buy a DS with the game, and go back home and fire it up, unlike buying an expensive phone, browsing through the thousands of apps, and downloading it.

And really, if we're going to lump smartphones and handhelds in the same market share pie charts, why don't we add regular phones as well? Those could play games, and I'm pretty sure you'd see declining marketshare for handhelds since quite some time, clearly showing how the DS was doing terribly ever since it came out. /sarcasm

You're making a very big assumption in saying smartphones are the PCs of the portable space, and I don't believe your reasoning is sound enough. I agree with your points, but you are taking a very narrow look at it. 

1) Why are consoles popular? Because they're easy to use, and they provide lots of great games to play on your TV.

2) Why are smartphones popular? Because they're easy to use and provide lots of great apps, including games.

3) What makes a smartphone different from a PC? You have lots of things you may need to take care of, they're big and heavy to carry around (in most cases) and a good gaming PC can be quite expensive.

I know this is a very simple outlook as well, but gaming on your phone is much more real now that there are actually games to play on them. Angry Birds is a huge success, and publishers are putting more and more of their IPs on smartphones. There might be similarities to the PC, but there a lot of differences too.

And I have to say, I see more old people buying tablets then I do buying handheld gaming consoles. Tablets and smartphones are succesful with that audience for the same reason the Wii and Kinect is, it's a natural user interface, and it doesn't look intimidating to someone with very little technological experience.