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Nintendo's Fils-Aime: Apple's Success Has 'No Impact' On Nintendo DS
by Christian Nutt [Console/PC, Mobile Phone, Mobile Console]
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May 4, 2010
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In an interview with CNBC, the Nintendo of America president and COO says that the soon to be supplanted Nintendo DS will see some of its best-ever sales in 2010 despite iPhone and iPad.
Fils-Aime spoke about the company's new Wii bundle, which sees the company adding Wii Sports Resort and the Wii MotionPlus to the system alongside Wii Sports, as well as releasing a black version of the console in the U.S. He also touched on the Wii's earlier-reported Netflix user milestone of nearly 1 million.
After Fils-Aime pointed out that the Wii has sold 5 million Wii consoles in the past four months, which he said is "equal to the entire amount that our competitors have sold over the previous 12 months," he was asked about whether Apple's successful devices, which support thousands of games, have cut into Nintendo's DS market.
In fact, he says, the aging system -- released in 2004, a successor is set to debut next month -- is presently doing the best it has ever done in the market.
"We have not seen any impact on our DS business. In the first three months [of this year] we've set two new sales records for the Nintendo DS. We think that through April that we’ll have the best four month time period to kick off a new calendar year that we’ve ever had with the device. So certainly we’re seeing momentum, [Apple is] seeing momentum. I think two products can succeed at the same time."
Fils-Aime was not asked about and did not discuss software sales for the platform, nor did he mention much about the company's upcoming 3DS portable system, which is set to be formally unveiled next month at E3 in Los Angeles -- except that he expects consumers will want to buy it.
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(There was a story with a chart of this about a month or two ago. The DS market share did decline a tiny bit, but the overall pie was bigger, so they made more money)
Example: my family (parents/siblings/spouses/kids) consists of 35+ people. Everyone over 30 has an apple device (except my dad who has a Nook), where everyone under 30 are glued to their DS, including my 22yr old nephew who still has to collect every pokemon. I gave my 80 year old mom an ipad, and she uses it every day. To be honest, the DS is starting to feel old fashoned. I've been playing Strange Journey, and wish it were on iPhone, but then again some games can only be played with analog switches and buttons.
The good news for Nintendo is that millions of new kids pop up every month, and they are all going to want the latest gameboy.