Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, says the company is taking a look at Amazon Kindle’s business model for future portable consoles.
“I’m interested in it because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost,” said Iwata in an interview with the Financial Times.
Amazon’s portable e-reader device connects to a 3G cell phone network to download new content straight to the device for a one-time cost included in the Kindle purchase price.
“We pay for the wireless delivery charges so you don’t have to,” says an advertisement on Amazon.com.
The Nintendo DSi currently relies on Wi-Fi for digital distribution. With the iPhone catching up on the competition that relies on a 3G network, is this the next step for Nintendo?
“Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month can be iPhone customers,” Iwata says. “That doesn’t fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products. The Kindle one-off cost would better suit Nintendo’s customer base.”
While it is a great idea to be able to download games on the go without a Wi-Fi connection, it would also mean higher hardware cost to the consumer to make up for network fees.
“In reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up, but it is one option for the future.”
Readers, sound off. Would you pay more for a handheld if it meant you could download games from just about anywhere through a mobile network?
I don't know, thats a toughie. I personally like the way it is now.
As long as they don't do what Sony did, taking the UMD drive off, in my opinion it was a bad idea and I hope Nintendo wouldn't be so quick as to take that away from their customers.
im down. it sounds like a good deal to me for people who dont have wifi floating around cause they live in the woods.
This is what Sony should've did with the Go.
Not to sound like a Luddite, but for some reason, I much prefer to just buy the hard copy. I download a lot of stuff on my Xbox but for a handheld, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. If I'm going on a trip, I have to take my handheld and I always make sure that I have a new game to play with it, which makes the ability to download new games at will, somewhat useless. Sure, there is definitely a market for it and tons of people will take advantage of it but I'm not sure that I will be one of them.
Would I pay more? Depends. Since we're talking Nintendo here, I'm sure a "higher cost" would put it in the price range of the PSP - which I currently own. So, my answer would be "yes." If Nintendo decided to charge a lot more for the handheld (PSPGo pricing or higher), then my answer would be "no."
HECK YES!!
I have been saying this for a long time, in just about every topic about the PSPgo. When I go on trips, I don't want to bring a bunch of disks/cartridges with me, I would love to have a handheld that let me download all it's games off the net. I would also appreciate better graphics, and a host of great games. I think that this could finally what I have been waiting for.
I think the PSPgo is going to have a lot of manufacturers gun shy for awhile.
I honestly can't say. One of the big reasons I'm not an early-adopter is the cost of buying systems. If system costs went up, I'm not sure I'd be any more likely to buy a system just because it made it easier to buy and download games.
Obviously, when it came to a home console, I don't know that I would care about the ability to download anywhere, anytime, without Wi-Fi. Chances are, I'll have Wi-Fi in my own home, so I won't need any other way to download to a console. However, with a hand-held device, it would be interesting to be able to download a game anywhere, anytime. What would really be nice, though, would be the ability to -play- games online anywhere, at any time. I don't mind buying games only when I have access to Wi-Fi; it's being restricted in online play that frustrates me.
sounds like an awesome idea. like a comment before its def. a good idea for those who do not have access to wifi. good idea nintendo
I agree that a lot of people would get it because you won't need wi-fi to download games. But on the other hand, a lot of people do live in city areas where there is lots of wi-fi available, and in the smaller towns I travel to have a lot more wi-fi buildings than I thought they could have, so I'm almost asking myself if it'll be worth it in the long-run or not. Because if you think about it, wouldn't there be a lot more wi-fi buildings then there are now in the future as technology is constantly evolving? So will this possibly be a waste of time and money? It's too soon to tell for my "yes" or "no".
methinks nintendo will be the first to continue the five year trend.
It depends if Nintendo provides there own 3G network then yes I’m all for it, but if I have to deal with a cell phone company then no.
I definitely would. Because not only would this mean downloading games on the go, it would also be surfing the internet wherever. It would essentially turn the DS into an iphone, except with better games and accurate controls. And, y'know, no phone.
Go nintendo!
Provide downloadble games I actually want to download at a price I'm willing to pay. Then we'll talk.
Yes, I probably would pay more for that option. Not a whole lot more, and not a monthly fee or anything, but if I could pay somewhere in the range of $20 to $50 more to have that option, I would.
Nope, still wouldn't consider buying another handheld.
uh NO! this will never happen
It should stay the way it is now. Also Annette Gonzalez you should have used a Kindle 2 pic the original Kindle is very ugly in my opinion.
Console for business? Sounds pretty cool actually.