So invites are going out as expected for an Apple event on January 27th, to "Come see our latest creation". The odd part for me is why they sent one to Kotaku, a gaming news site. Makes me wonder if Apple is going to try and position the tablet as some sort of gaming device day one, or if they have other gaming related announcements. It would be nice to see Apple take gaming more serious then they have in the past, as OS X has shipped with some really nasty bugs in OpenGL over the years, hindering games on the platform.

If I were a betting type of person my only bet would be against what most pundits and blogs have been predicting. I really have no clue about what Apple will actually unveil, but I think everyone else is just as, if not more, clueless.

It's (historically) an appropriate time for multiple announcements, given that Apple no longer participates in anyone else's trade shows early in the year.

I'm also not sure about what all the rumour sites are saying, it could be just that I'm not interested in that type of product but I can't see the point of a slate, even if it's really pretty. I like the iPhone as it goes everywhere with me, all the mocks ups so far don't look that portable or practical to me.

I think it's a very good point about the gaming side of things. I would expect to see Apple trying to open up a market it has little share of at the moment. That makes much more sense to me, I just wonder what form it will take?

Cheers

Cris.

Apple's already in the handheld gaming biz with the iPhone and iPod touch. Seems like developers agree too.

They've already got more installed units than Sony and will likely eventually catch Nintendo - though that may be by the time Nintendo moves to a new platform. As far as gaming dollars it's a lot more difficult to calculate, even if I knew all the software numbers. Since the idevices aren't strictly gaming-related it's not fair to say unit sales are gaming hardware sales. But if you put that aside, and you listen to some analysts that are somewhat grounded and realistic, Apple is doing very well with unit profits. Much better than Sony, though I have no idea how much money Nintendo brings in from their handhelds. The App Store, again, not strictly games, is also booming and brings Apple an estimated 100-something million per month according to the last report I saw.

I also don't see a point in a tablet/slate general purpose computer with today's software. If Apple does move into this space, they'll bring along something completely new, unlike what's been mocked up so far. None of the iPhone mock-ups or predictions were even close to reality. The fact that Apple would turn the phone industry on it's ass wasn't expected by anyone. Today there's no arguing that Apple has created the de-facto "benchmark" in a hand-held platform. It's not quite ubiquitous, but it's the closest thing we've ever had and it's been changing "mobile" computing since its debut.

It's unwise to underestimate Apple as much as it is to overestimate. Thankfully for Apple, the people in the first camp usually belong to the competition and detractors while the second camp are the already locked-in fan-boys.

Let's see what happens in two weeks.

I can't imagine anybody on this bbs falling into that category.

Oh, wait...



tanstaafl.

Ya ya ya... I'm a fan, but I'm not a fan-boy (aka fanatic). Just like I'm a fan of Star Wars and Star Trek, but not a fan-boy of either of those either. A fan-boy doesn't criticize, and I'm very (and have always been very) critical of Apple. I don't think Apple is "all that" when it comes to design of hardware or software. They're just better than most. Including when it comes to releasing things that "wow" many people and set benchmarks. I'm not always wowed. See, another sign of non-fan-boy-ism.

Having worked so closely with Apple for a number of years I long ago learned not to overestimate. They do things at their own pace and by their own rules - it doesn't matter how many people (fan-boys included) are clamoring for this or that feature or bell or whistle.

eh ????????????????????????????????????????????

Cheers

Cris.

They're both over and underrated as well. But generally speaking, to see the best software you'll usually look to third parties. As far as hardware goes, they're usually the best of the common crowd, but they could be better. Design is all a compromise anyway, so I suppose you can never have a pinnacle, even if looking at a specific point in time.

With regards to the two comments, they have the benchmark retail product. It doesn't mean they have created the ultimate design nor function in every category for that product. They're also where the market is looking and what the market is targeting. The benchmark. I happen to think a lot of the platform can be better designed and implemented. I don't think anyone else will solve all the issues before (or instead of) Apple however. And even if they had a single product that was the absolute most perfect creation that would never be improved, that still wouldn't make the company nor everything else they do "all that."

"All that" = Always tops, without question or fail. Infallible. Always right. The only way. Can't be improved. etc..

Yeah, I don't agree with "all that."

So who exactly is "all that" in Apple's marketplace?

And remember the comparison, to keep it fair, should be made with another company that develops it's own software and hardware platform, operate and innovate in multiple emerging and established markets and hold the de-facto benchmark for a hand held device.

Oh, and they should also be brave enough to break away from the way things industry has always done things and centre on making what's there work rather than fill their devices with features that don't work.

I'm struggling to come up with someone better. Hmmm.......

I also think you need to add a 3rd category - Apple Fan Boy In Denial

Cheers

Cris.

I think his point is that there is no company that's "all that".

Apple's just closer than the competition in many metrics.

Perhaps, but we're grading on a curve. Apple is virtually the only company that you ever praise, and you do that frequently. Yes, you have had criticisms of them here and there, but, aside from Slim/Squeeze, I can't think of another product from any vendor that you've mentioned you liked; moreover, I can't think of one you didn't actively complain about.

Um...no. Nintendo has sold over 113 million DS units. Apple has sold a respectable 30 million iPhones and Touches, but there's a long way to go to get to 113 million, and the handheld game market is WAY less crowded.

If it's anything remotely like the tablet shapes being reported, I don't see how it will be a big gaming platform. The form factor just doesn't lend its self to it. It's not portable, and you have stuff at home that is going to be much more usable. That is the entire problem with tablets.

But, once again, we just don't know what they're going to come out with. I'll certainly be interested.

Whatever Apple's got up their sleeve, I don't see myself running out and buying it. I've got a brand-new Kindle, that I've been using quite successfully to read books, an iPhone 3G, which isn't out of contract until this summer, and an MacBook Air that's still doing it's job just fine. Any sort of slate-like device would need to obsolete one of the gadgets that I already use and am perfectly happy with.

The numbers I have seen are actually 70-something million and 45-50 million respectively (though I think 45m is low and the real figure is closer to 60m). Though more recently with some digging I have been able to find figures for the DS topping 105M, so I'll take your 113.

I believe the iPod Touch figure itself is close to 30 million units today. Combined sales were already over 37 million units in April of 2009. q3 and q4 2009 added another 13M iPhones and likely a similar number of iPod touches. Expect another 15M+ iPhones this year along with maybe 10M or more touches - it all really depends on what Apple does to refresh the line. Apple will catch the DS.

Neither sales stat is for currently active units obviously. Nintendo has sold a bunch of DS revisions that people have upgraded through and Apple has done the same with the iPhone and Touch. Apple has been doing amazingly well with hardware that costs a lot more than Nintendo's and sales policies on the iPhone that have dramatically restricted its adoption, especially in the US.

This launch date has been known since at least January 4th. How is this breaking news today? The Apple stock (AAPL) is up 4.4% today, mostly on earnings guidance, but people are also citing this release.

Too bad it was only yesterday that I heard the Jan 4th podcast with this info. I could have caught that stock move. Just like how I missed the Palm Pre and Moto Droid announcements by a week or two. It pays to stay on top of the news.

Up till January 18th, Apple hadn't said anything official, thus the date was still a rumor.

And they couldn't make wild predictions by parsing the press invitations 37 different ways.

It's worth noting that when someone buys an iphone or ipod touch, they may be buying a music player, a phone, an email device, etc. They're not necessarily going to be gaming on it.

When someone buys a Nintendo, they're buying a gaming device... hence the number of "apple devices used for gaming" (vs "apple devices capable of being used for gaming") is going to be way lower than the number of Nintendo's used for gaming.

Good point. I'd love to know what the numbers were for the most popular iPhone game, and then compare them to the most popular DS game.

Of course, the advantage of the iPhone is that it takes a lot less for a developer to get their game onto the device, but still, the audience might not be as big.

Bruno, apparently your prediction might be true, though. There are rumors of the next DS being announced and/or releasing this year.

This is the kind of douche you don't want to do business with: McGraw Hill CEO discloses Apple Trade Secret on national TV

Forget scammers in Nigeria, it's people like this that will ruin your day. Like Gordon Ramsay going mental on some muppet, I don't find it surprising that Steve Jobs flips his lid when idiots pull this kind of crap. I don't think he'll blacklist McGraw Hill from the event like he did with ATI back in the day though.

Some people speculate "controlled leak" - not a chance. A controlled leak doesn't come from some nerd CEO the day before a major press event.

There have been some big big payouts. That Dance Dance Revolution (err Tap Tap Revenge or something like that) and the DoCoMo guys seem to be banking large. All things considered once you file away all the ducats, I wouldn't be surprised to find they're more profitable than the big DS games.

BTW, this past quarter put at least another 18M iPhones and iPod touches in the hands of consumers according to the earnings report Apple released on Monday.

Here's a neat video from Apple in 1995 which, among other things, shows a couple of tablet devices. These devices would not have been able to be created with the level of performance shown in the videos at that time obviously. But I did find the video inspiring and would love to see some visionary concept work for enabling education through technology done today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPS1DMlzz0M

We'll see where the event tomorrow takes this, but I don't think we'll be seeing something as revelational as this video would have been in 1995.

Is someone saying the thing is great the day before they announce it going to hurt them somehow ? I could see being mad if he said it sucks.

It can hurt their stock price. Basically if he says something positive, and then tomorrows announcement is a letdown, the stock may take a hit. If he says something negative, the stock may take a hit now.

I would think more like someone said something positive today I wanna but stock today before the big announcement tomorrow and everyone hears about it. Plus even before this announcement it sounds like it was already well known it was coming anyway.

They should just stop with the big announcement crap and just start selling the thing when it's done.

It's all about marketing and developers. With the big announcement, they guarantee spots in every major newspaper, TV news show, internet site, and radio station without having to pay for advertising individually. And by pre announcing a device that will need developer support, they allow time for some apps to be made.

Great for them. I'm sure not a single Nintendo DS was sold in that time.

As for the games, you didn't address the issue at all. You just said something like "I heard the developers made a lot of money." That doesn't say anything. Do you have numbers of games sold? And really, that's hard to compare too. It's sort of apples and oranges across the board on this argument, really. I still don't think they have as much to stand on in the gaming area as they think they do, and that is to say that they think the iPhone is the greatest portable gaming platform around. Personally, for that to be true, I'd need to have more control input than just a touchscreen and accelerometer. Neither method is at all appealing to me as a primary control method on a portable gaming device.

It depends on what game. I could play peggle on there fine.

The most important thing that I garnered from that video is that Erin Burnett is hot.

Matt, I spend a lot of time on the board as it is. Use Google and you will find estimates of the sales of the two companies I mentioned. You can also find a lot of information about the distribution and licensing costs associated with creating Nintendo games. Those facts for the App Store are known - 30% off the top to Apple. You can also find a lot of information from developers on the ease of developing for various platforms. Another fact is that developers have been able to leverage their code base on the iPhone platform to release two, three or even four games.

As well, for a small company, it's really a no brainer. Most have little chance to ever release a Nintendo game, having to get past the licensing and development costs. Releasing one on the iPhone is pretty straight forward since there is a much lower barrier to entry.

Also, the unit stat was just to contribute additional data to the previous discussion. I don't have a DS stat but I was hoping someone else could add that later. BTW, personally, I think the DS is shite. Two super small screens is still two super small screens. BUt I do agree with you that the iPhone would be a nicer gaming rig if you had the ability to use some external buttons. A couple of people were working on cases sporting buttons and a dpad. Not sure where that's at right now, but from a feasibility perspective, it's at least possible now that Apple has an official API for the dock connector. You'd have to bake support for it directly into the titles though.