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[Good Job Bob]

1. People don't buy them as gaming device
2. A lot of people are the same who bought last year, not adding to the overall installed base

Nonsense, you just made that up.

People are locked into 2 year contracts with the iPhone, so they're not going to buy a new one every year (or every quarter, lol); and I doubt most people do the same for iPads either.

 

[Rich!]

People are locked into 2 year contracts with the iPhone, so they're not going to buy a new one every year

People I know do. They go into their local phones4u/carphone warehouse and get either an upgrade or organise a buyout into a new contract. You could easily get a new iphone each time a model is released, regardless of the contract length.

I was on a 2 year HTC contract with 10 months left to go. Yesterday I went into my local phone shop, organised a buy-out, got given £100 cash for a samsung phone that cost me £9.95 from tesco, and am now the happy owner of a new windows phone on a new, cheaper, 2 year contract.

And I still have my old HTC, which I will sell to mazuma mobile for a fair good amount of cash, put together with the £100 I got given yesterday by the phone store - which will pay the remainder of my old vodafone contract. And sure as hell, after a year I'll do it again, halfway through my contract. Why the hell not, when it costs you nothing, and you end up with newer tech and better contract prices?

 

[Tabris]

Nonsense, you just made that up.

People are locked into 2 year contracts with the iPhone, so they're not going to buy a new one every year (or every quarter, lol); and I doubt most people do the same for iPads either.

There's a good chunk of people that buy each new iteration (including me). Especially with how easy it is to sell the earlier iteration for $300ish, only costing you a general cost of around $200 a year (if you include the contract cost every 2 years)

 

[Ambitious]

Touchscreen remote? That's brilliant.

 

[Good Job Bob]

I know their are enthusiasts that buy each release, but do you really believe they make up a relevant amount of 37 million sales? Come on.

Either way, Apple averages 15 million+ iPhones a quarter --- that simply is not a niche.

 

[walking fiend]

I know their are enthusiasts that buy each release, but do you really believe they make up a relevant amount of 37 million sales? Come on.

Either way, Apple averages 15 million+ iPhones a quarter --- that simply is not a niche.

of course in general it is not a niche; however, as a gaming device compared to nearly 400m consoles sold this generation solely for the purpose of gaming, it is (200m home + over 200m handheld); and that is excluding PC games whether casual, online, etc.


---
to the first question: yes, of course!
Last time I checked there are 200m registered iDevice that can use apps (iPod, iPhone, iPad).

 

[numble]

of course in general it is not a niche; however, as a gaming device compared to nearly 400m consoles sold this generation solely for the purpose of gaming, it is (200m home + over 200m handheld); and that is excluding PC games whether casual, online, etc.


---
to the first question: yes, of course!
Last time I checked there are 200m registered iDevice that can use apps (iPod, iPhone, iPad).

315 million iOS devices sold since 2007, and they sold less than 3 million iOS devices in 2007. Not bad when the XBox 360 launched in 2005 (the beginning of "this generation" of consoles).
http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/07/ti...tats-315-million-sold-62-million-in-q4-alone/

 

[MoogleWizard]

What is the point of comparing sales of a cell phone with game consoles? Did you also do that when Nokia sold millions of the same model? I mean seriously, everyday-devices like cell phones and computers that everyone basically needs sell more than game consoles, you don't say, it has never been like that before...

 

[Log4Girlz]

http://www.cultofmac.com/160760/why-apple-ceo-tim-cook-met-with-valve-exclusive/

An unconfirmed report surfaced yesterday saying that Apple CEO Tim Cook was spotted at Valve’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. Whenever Cook is spotted out and about, people take notice. The CEO of the world’s most valuable company doesn’t personally visit other tech companies to simply have a chat.

Many speculated as to why Cook would be visiting Valve, maker of popular game series like Half-Life, Team Fortress and Portal. Valve also boasts an incredibly robust online PC gaming platform called Steam that operates similarly to Apple’s App Store.

We’ve gotten word that Cook was indeed at Valve yesterday, and what’s more, Apple is planning a full-on assault to take over the living room. This assault won’t just be limited to the long-rumored Apple HDTV set, but will also include a revolutionary home console as well.

According to sources to Cult of Mac, Apple is working on a television set with an iTunes-integrated touch screen remote and Siri-like voice command technology. The TV set will be coming before the end of 2012. Rumors and patents have said as much for the past year, so that’s nothing new. But that’s not all we’ve heard.

Our sources also say that Apple’s television set will come with an Apple-branded, Kinect-like video game console. The interface will rely heavily on motion and touch controls.

If true, this wouldn’t be Cupertino’s first foray into the console market.

Back in 1995, Apple collaborated with Bandai to product a Mac OS running home console called the Bandai Pippin back in 1995. Things were pretty disjointed at Apple back then, and the company was trying to regain its image under the leadership of Michael Spindler. Apple licensed the Pippin platform to Bandai for a console, but the market was already dominated by the PlayStation and Sega. The Pippin was priced too high to compete and Bandai ended up selling less than 50,000 units before shelving the project.

Back to Valve. The gaming company makes Steam, a PC game distribution network with 30 million active users on both the PC and Mac. Steam is to gaming as iTunes is to music. Recent rumors have suggested that Valve is working on its own console dubbed the “Steam Box.” Instead of another Xbox or PlayStation, the hardware would serve as more of a standard that Valve would license to partners, much like the way Google handles Android in the smartphone space.

Recent Valve job listings also indicate that the company is working on a mysterious hardware project. The Steam Box is rumored to feature biometrics technology in the form of a bracelet or wearable device for recognizing players.

Last year Valve CEO Gabe Newell seemed concerned with Apple’s ‘walled garden’ approach and the possibility of its entrance into the TV market. ”On the platform side, it’s sort of ominous that the world seems to be moving away from open platforms,” Newell told The Seattle Times. ”They build a shiny sparkling thing that attracts users and then they control people’s access to those things.”

Newell talked about “shiny sparkling things” again in a more recent interview a couple months ago:

Well, if we have to sell hardware we will. We have no reason to believe we’re any good at it, it’s more we think that we need to continue to have innovation and if the only way to get these kind of projects started is by us going and developing and selling the hardware directly then that’s what we’ll do. It’s definitely not the first thought that crosses our mind; we’d rather hardware people that are good at manufacturing and distributing hardware do that. We think it’s important enough that if that’s what we end up having to do then that’s what we end up having to do.

If there’s anyone that’s good at manufacturing and distributing hardware, it’s Apple. We don’t know the exact details of why Tim Cook met with Valve recently, but the two companies are obviously talking to one another. Based on what we’ve heard, it’s possible that Apple could be considering Valve as a partner for its entrance into living room gaming.

If Apple announces a console I will shit my pants...along with Iwata and Kaz.

 

[Patrick Bateman]

Wait a minute? Left 4 Dead 2 is available on Steam?

 

[Ulairi]

Wait a minute? Left 4 Dead 2 is available on Steam?

Not. Sure. If. Serious.

 

[beast786]

1. People don't buy them as gaming device
2. A lot of people are the same who bought last year, not adding to the overall installed base

yet the most top sold apps are gaming apps.

yes, apple is the most valuable company in the world because few buys it's niche product over and over again. obviously gamers also only buy 1 console ever in there lifetime. Obviously none of the people who bought Playstation 1 bought either PS2 or PS3.

but we can ignore the expansion in china and brazil and 55 million iPads sold till q4 2011

 

[LiK]

IT NEVER HAPPENED

http://kotaku.com/5903555/gabe-newell-says-valve+apple-meeting-didnt-happen

 

[Xun]

IT NEVER HAPPENED

http://kotaku.com/5903555/gabe-newell-says-valve+apple-meeting-didnt-happen

Unless he's lying, what a shame.

 

[Tomat]

It's happening guys.

This meeting happened, and Apple is making their move. Today's the day.

 

[Mononoke]

Since when is Apple "the devil" or "evil"? Is this just some gaming side meme?

Pretty much the creed of all hardcore gamers.

 

[AzaK]

THE THREAD LIVES!

 

[Risette]

Pretty much the creed of all hardcore gamers.

lol

 

[Tomat]

THE THREAD LIVES!

It's more relevant than ever!

 

[subversus]

.

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

It's happening guys.

This meeting happened, and Apple is making their move. Today's the day.

Source? What is this??