Source: http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3173029

Iwata Reaffirms DSi Not Intended to Compete with Cell Phones, iPod

Nintendo president says they intend to "please as many people as possible who pick up a DS."

By Kris Pigna, 02/28/2009

Can you really avoid direct competition with other products simply by ordaining it so? That appears to be Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's strategy, as he stated in a new "Iwata Asks" column that the added features to the DSi -- namely a digital camera and music playback -- are not intended to make the device a direct competitor to cell phones or the iPod.

"Iwata Asks" is a recurring feature Nintendo produces, where Iwata brings together various figures behind a new Nintendo product to discuss it in detail. In this latest column focusing on the DSi, the topic of competition with other multi-purpose portable devices came up, and Iwata was quick to note that competing with such devices isn't their goal.

"Nintendo doesn't have any intention of directly competing with existing products, but the mass media has a tendency to portray everything as a rivalry between opposing companies," he said. "It seems some people have the impression that we want to compete with cell phones or the iPod, that putting cameras or music players in our devices is out of character for us. I hope those who have such an impression will take an interest in what Nintendo can make when it dedicates itself to pleasing as many people as possible who pick up a DS, and I hope they'll actually pick one up themselves."

Iwata makes a good point that the media tend to focus on the more dramatic angle of competition between rival companies (hey, we can't help it -- especially when rival companies make it so easy). And this also isn't the first time Iwata broached this subject, as he made a similar statement after the DSi was first announced back in October of 2008. But for Nintendo, this ultimately seems more like a game of managing expectations. The public image of the DS is that it dominates the handheld gaming market. Change that public image of the DS to a device that competes more against iPods and cell phones, and maybe that dominant position seems a little less dramatic.

In any case, the DSi finally launches in North America on April 5.

How can it be, it doesn't work as a phone and isn't a great music player.

Camera's a secondary function of the iPhone and other cellphones, too. It's not the main reason, or usually even one of the main reasons, that someone buys them.

Yeah, the competition doesn't make sense if it doesn't actually have a phone function and doesn't have extensive music playback.

edit ; sorry it was my brother pressing the gibberish.

Then maybe he shouldn't have bloated it with the useless media crap. Then he might have saved enough to put something useful in, like say, Slot-2?

What are you trying to say?

Who ever said the DSi is the only option? If you want GBA functions, what do you think the DSlite is.

That was a matter of dimensions, not features. Although they could have just used an adapter, and have a thinner slot to fit the adapter in, but the media features had nothing to do with this.

It was already stated that the DSi is the third and final phase of the blue ocean.

http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/reggie-confirms-dsi-is-a-blue-ocean-product/
http://seanmalstrom.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/translating-reggie/

thanks bobobuffalo. i haven't read through any of maelstrom's articles in like a year, and i have been forgetting to catch up. thanks for posting the links and reminding me :D.