Apple has $20 billion in cash and has over 20 years of selling computing hardware. They will probably make an interesting console with great online components and be willing to sell at a loss to their huge fan base. Anything with the letter "I" seems to sell for them from I pods to I phones. Will Sony be willing to go another round against both Apple and Microsoft seeing that both those companies have tons more cash to burn than Sony does at the moment? They were the big dog against Nintendo and Sega in 1995 but the tables have turned now if Apple joins the race.

i-phone is a flop BTW.

anyways no that won't happen as Apple will most probably have ZERO 3rd party support to start off with

Short anwser: no.

sony has a fairly loyal base. they could just make a really crappy system next round and it will sell fine. id be willing to bet they would still be able to convince a lot of people it is the most powerful.

How is I phone a flop? Heres an interesting article from Kotaku.http://kotaku.com/5050109/would-you-buy-an-apple-gaming-console

Everyone laughed in 2000 when Microsoft announced they would be entering the console business and look how much marketshare they took away from Sony in the last 8 years. Not many people nowadays at Apple or Google with all the money they generate.

well, it depends who apple makes the console for. it's obvious to them that the wii is a high flyer, so it would probably make more sense that they make a console to compete with the wii. plus consoles cost so much to develop for that developers may be less willing to take an apple console on board.

also, if apple make a new console, why the hell would it force sony to leave? it makes no sense. a new console is competition to everyone. the introduction of the xbox didnt force the gamecube to leave.

Loyal base? There is no loyalty in the game business anymore. Where was all the Nintendo fans during the N 64 and Game Cube era? Where were all the Sega fans? Where are the the 150 million Sony fans now? Gamers swith sides just like every other business.

Apple making good hardware? Sure.
Apple winning to sell a console for a loss? I do not see that happening.

If Apple entered the market it'd probably be a a variant of their tv service which would do tv, movies, music and now games.

It would be ubercool and high in demand for casual gamers competing with Wii and outdoing Sony's & MS's attempt to be the be-all system in the living room.

Would Sony leave? No. But I do expect them to never take the loss leading strategy to such lengths again. They'll follow a business model closer to Nintendo's next gen. Even with the GC Nintendo made nice profit.

Strategically, if Apple were to enter it'd be best (IMO) to launch next year and force Sony & MS to go 'next-gen' earlier than they'd like and never be able to recoop money from this gen.

What like the Apple Pippin.