iFags? Come on now. You know better than that, capslock.

Yes, Apple products are terrible, which is why they sell like hotcakes. The iPod, iPhone, Macbooks.... All crap. None of them bring anything to the table such as a great digital distribution model, multi-touch interfaces, and dual booting out of the box. They... Just... Suck.

Keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. 

I agree that this wouldn't be a traditional console -- Apple doesn't have the first party game developing muscle to get a traditional console on the market.  However, I don't think Nintendo needs to be weary.  This is a way for Apple to get video into the home that happens to have the extra profitability avenue of very casual gaming.  Perhaps mostly downloaded.

Apple never released anything with even close to the reliability problems of the Xbox 360.  If they did, there would be huge piles of broken ipods everywhere, as far more ipods have been sold than Xbox 360s will ever be sold.

And I am sure Apple will rip people off as much as they do with iPod pricing.

Yeah, $249 for an 80GB iPod is highway robbery.

/sarcasm 

So how many more times are you planning to regurgitate this trademark application? It bores me.

When you get apple hardware you're trading sexiness for functionality. The hardware is kind of expensive for the functionality you get -- you can find cheaper MP3 players that can play more formats, etc. The lower end is particularly where Apple keeps things more expensive. Look at the macbook air: there's no new technology there, it's just a bunch of existing technology packed into a sexier package than the other guys make.

With the iphone you pay a lot extra and don't even get a 3G phone.  My coworker got a motorola a1200 from Hong Kong several years ago and it's smaller and sexier than the iphone with a touch-screen and a clear flip cover (so you can always see the main screen).   It was also kind of rude of Apple to charge their early adopters $200 extra for the first month or so when they're still making over $1000 profit per iphone sold with a plan.

That said, Apple's laptop prices are among their most fair prices. If you want to see an example of the Apple tax, try buying some memory from them. We have some pretty old machines here with 16GB of memory that we got from a third party because the exact same memory (same manufacturer) cost 1/3rd as much from a non-apple vendor.

 That sounds like the most likely scenario.

As much as I love Apple, I wouldn't want to see them create a brand new console. 

Trust me, I've been an Apple user for years. The ONLY thing I buy from them is a sealed product that I cannot get elsewhere. If you buy memory from them, you're a fool.

While their products are not cheap, most aren't completely out of line with the competition either. Yes, their formats are limited but I hardly view that as a major constraint because they play the most important one, MP3. That's not a limitation to me, though it could be to you.

And I know that Motorola phone you're talking about, a friend of mine has one. While I wish the iPhone was 3G (and it's rather stupid that it isn't), I have a hard time seeing how that Motorola is sexier than an iPhone. Have you messed with the iPhone for more than five minutes? The interface absolutely blows every other phone out of the water. While I still haven't unlocked mine (and it is annoying that to get the functionality I will want in the future, that's pretty much mandatory), the iPhone brought a lot of revolutionary tech to the phone industry that other companies just hadn't thought about or were too cheap to research.

Just the multi-touch interface, ambient light sensor, and alignment sensors put the phone in a class of its own.

I'm sure apple could create a great console, one that probably happily marries nintendo's creativity with the others systems power. Their problem is breaking into the software end of things(also their problem in the pc market), they'd need to open game studios, buy a few and start making 3rd party deals, and it's a tough nut to crack at this stage of the game, it'd be easier if someone was leaving the party but right now that doesn't look likely.

They'd have an easier time breaking into the handheld market, they're more known for their handheld technology, they can create something that also plays itunes so people may just buy it for other reasons, they'd only compete with two other systems, and it's cheaper to bankroll portable games so they could jump start more projects, plus the handheld market is a litttle more casual thanks to the ds and it would has a comfortable time fitting in. If the thing had a sweet harddrive played music and videos, and downloaded games, and they managed to jump start a few decent titles I'd definitely consider picking it up.