Iwata Wants to Treat Apple as Nintendo's "Enemy of the Future"

Nintendo recently reported that their profits have decreased, for the first time in six years.  This is the first time their profits haven't grown since the DS came out.  They used to be sailing high with $2.97 billion net income in the fiscal year ending March 2009, and now they ONLY made a measly $2.43 billion net income in the fiscal year ending March 2010.  While this may seem like it's not much of a big deal, since the Wii and DS are still outselling all their competitors and their latest Mario platformer looks to be the fastest selling exclusive game of all time, Nintendo is taking this very seriously.

The Times Online is reporting that Nintendo plans to deal with this predicament in two ways.  First, Satoru Iwata has secret plans to restore Nintendo's traditional "element of surprise."  That could mean anything really, but it's always fun to speculate.  My guess is they're finally making gaming contact lenses so you can play a game with your eyes closed, or while you're pretending to sleep.

Their other strategy is much more concrete and interesting:

Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the “enemy of the future."

That's right, folks.  Nintendo doesn't even consider Sony competition anymore, and they see Apple as a more serious threat.  Apple has been a thorn in the sides of Nintendo and Sony recently, declaring that the iPhone is selling more games than the PSP, and that it has a game library bigger than the DS and PSP combined.  Nintendo and Sony have mostly ignored these comments, save for responding with a few funny PR jabs, but now Nintendo is getting ready to declare war.

What really set Nintendo off this time was a recent study in which high-school girls and 30-year old men both reported that they'd rather carry an iPhone around in their pockets or handbags than a DS.  Nintendo has repeatedly stated that they're not just competing with other video game manufacturers, but they're actually competing with all forms of entertainment simultaneously, and even competing against boredom.  They need a few inches of backpack-space or pocket-space, and they don't want your silly smart phone to be in the way.This means war.

This was VGC news from May 10th.

This makes me think that Apple will soon star working on Gaming.

As much as I love Apple. No. Apple is never going to be a real threat to Nintendo. Unless Nintendo decides to make a phone or mp3 player.

What if Nintendo makes a 3DSphone?