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iPhone – Better than all the rest…

A recent survey showed how the iPhone was the leader of mobile gaming devices, and quite rightly too – which would you prefer…Snake on a Nokia 2760, or iMob on the iPhone?  Wait, don’t answer that, I already know what you’re going to say and don’t try and be retro and say the Nokia!

The iPhone is just up there, ahead of all the rest, and now its focus is turning away from the mobile gaming sector and turning to face the likes of the big guns – the PSP and the DS.

Now let’s be honest, once again.  The DS and the PSP will certainly out-play the iPhone as a gaming console, but with the iPhone’s possibly looming next step up the evolutionary ladder, who knows what’s going to happen.

PSP jealous of the iPhone

In fact, the PSP has been rumoured to want to move closer to iPhone-like capabilities, and we might well have seen the introduction of the PSPhone, if the deal between the Sony Playstation arm and the Sony Ericsson arm hadn’t fallen through just the other week.

If you actually sit down and think about it, the iPhone is possibly a first look at how a collaboration between the two portable gaming giant’s consoles could look - the touch-screen genius of the Nintendo DS meeting the multi-media functionality of the PSP, amongst other things.

Still, don’t hold your breath as I’m sure the competition is likely to get even fiercer through 2009.  Figures have just been released that show that the DS is still selling fairly strongly, even through the recession.

The Sony PSP, on the other hand, seems to be dying a slow and painful death in the market and Sony are going to have to come up with something soon, otherwise their console might not make it out of the snow.

No challenge, yet!

But let’s face it – the games currently in the AppStore for the iPhone are absolutely no match for the likes of the DS or the PSP.  The highest selling game on the DS is currently the kids favourite – Nintendogs.  Meanwhile the PSP throws out consistent gems like Need for Speed.

Still, don’t write the iPhone off just yet.  Developers (and I’m talking EA developers for a start) have been paying the iPhone a lot more attention of late, and the recent survey showing how the iPhone is miles ahead of any other mobile gaming device will attract even more attention by the bucket load.

With this attention comes more complex games, higher prices and could probably bring the iPhone up to a level where it is competing for custom against the DS and the PSP.

The technology should move as fast as the demand – we’re already seeing prototypes that will allow for a case with useable buttons being made for the iPhone, bringing it slightly closer to competing with the PSP as we live and breathe.

iPhone: Winner or Loser?

What do you reckon?  Will we be seeing the iPhone move up a level and play with the big boys, or is it destined to stay put?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 pm and is filed under Handheld Consoles, Nintendo DS, PSP, iPhone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.