| OdinHades said: He does have a point with Nokia. Ten years ago, people would have laughed at you when you would say that Samsung ans Apple are going to be the biggest cell phone makers. People would have told you that Nokia is sitting on so much cash, that they could lose money for 100 years and still be around. Well, now they're gone. (Yeah, I know they still exist but just don't make phones anymore, but you get the whole idea) |
I believe Nokia's downfall started around the time they released the N Gage (10 years ago). N Gage was crap, sold like shit, and probably caused them a decent amount of losses. After that failure Nokia seemed to not take anymore risks or very few and were left in the dust. They are trying to crawl out of obscurity now and look to be headed in a better direction than Blackberry at the moment.
Does this article raise a few issues? Sure it does just like all the other articles stating Nintendo shouldn't sell hardware and go 3rd party. I believe the smartphone/tablet gaming as a small threat compared to what some people believe. Do smartphones and tablets take away some consumer purchases of dedicated hand helds? Sure but the 3DS is still doing pretty good and is doing really well this year (will finish up YoY) with the help of a solid software lineup. Releasing Animal Crossing, Pokemon, Zelda, Fire Emblem, and a few other decent Nintendo titles in NA/Europe (along with good indie and semi decent 3rd party support) have insured the 3DS to have a wonderful year in sales. Not to mention MH4 releasing in Japan soon...
So the 3DS is fine for now. Nintendo will release another dedicated hand held after the 3DS. The doom cycle can begin again then for the hand held section. The only thing in trouble is the Wii U and Nintendo's software lineup for the end of the year is decent (has a few system sellers being released) and there are a few mega hits coming next year (Mario Kart and Smash). Wii U will make them money in a couple years. 3DS is probably turning them a profit now (especially software sells). I fail to see Nintendo fucking up completely or becoming totally irrelevant in the near future in gaming. Nintendo has IPs that sell their hardware. They won't stop making hardware just because some major third party companies shun them. Nintendo will leave the hardware market once their IPs can't support selling systems.
