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There have been quite a few rumors involving a Nintendo phone. As we all know, something like that has never hit the market.
Today we bring you the story that something like that could’ve happened if only Nintendo’s management was smarter. To be fair, they made tons of money with the DS, but if you look where the portable gaming is heading, you can clearly see the death of a dedicated gaming device.
According to an article on PocketGamer, Nokia and Nintendo held talks about a Nintendo phone back in 2000s. The R&D efforts were located at Nintendo’s Japanese HQ and the concept device was taken to the company’s board of directors for approval. Needless to say – it was rejected.
About at the same time, Nokia was working on the first N-Gage device, which failed miserably (as we all know).
So who won at the end? Apple with the iPhone and iPod Touch and Google with its Android platform. Honestly, I don’t see neither Nokia nor Nintendo having a decent role in the future of mobile gaming. I may be wrong and the Finnish giant could be working on some super secret plan to get back developers on board, but the market looks completely different nowadays with the iPhone dominating the gaming space and Android steadily growing.
The Japanese-Finnish duo maybe could’ve made it, but they haven’t got what it takes…
[Via: PocketGamer.co.uk]
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
