Why isn't there an Xbox handheld?

[Zappykins]

I'm a little surprised they make Xbox hardware at all. As their plan is to be a software company, I would think they would have a deal with Nintendo or Sony to make their Os and games. They had on with the Dreamcast by Sega stopped selling those, so they made Xbox.

I think it's all phone now. And the Windows 7 phone is about as much as an Xbox handheld as I think we will see for now. You can connect onto Xbox Live, chat with friends, play games that connect with your 360 games (like Fable3). Plus they have a new big deal with Nokia. It doesn’t have gamepads and joysticks, but someone might make one that does.

They don't make computers either, but the stuff that goes on most of them. Zune was different, as they weren't competing with partners but Apple. But they don't see a future for it as a hardware product, so it's being absorbed to the Xbox and WP7.

I think Nintendo miss out by not including a phone on the 3DS. I know gamers will not care, but many of the parents they buy them for their kids would. And they could sell a ‘family’ phone service they lease from Verizion or At&t similar to the plan Disney tried for kids and families. It seemed like value added service.

I think they would rather deal with the software. But companies do change over time - so now they make hardware too (like X360, Kinect, WebCams, etc.) Just look up how Nintendo started; I don't think anyone would guess they would be known as a family friendly gaming company.