Nintendo has ruled out any plans to produce a mobile phone. Nintendo president Satoru Iwata suggested that a Nintendo phone might be a possibility if a way could be found around the need for a monthly subscription. Not so, says Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime.
Nintendo won’t be making a phone because “Telephony is not in our wheelhouse,” said Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime. While this may be a contender for Most Random Metaphor Ever, it does seem to set the record straight.
Instead, Nintendo is considering an always-on Wi-Fi connection, similar to the Kindle. “We do see value in an always-on connected state,” said Fils-Aime, “It’s something that has value down the road.” How this would be achieved is unclear – barring a nationwide network of Wi-Fi hotspots, or a sudden WiMAX rollout, the simplest way would seem to be a 3G SIM. Hmm.
The Nintendo DS/DSi is still selling well, but the arrival of the iPhone has sent ripples across the game industry’s pond. The combination of decent graphics, always-on networking (via 3G or Wi-Fi) and ultra-portability is a powerful one and it seems inevitable that the DSi will go down that road eventually.
