Will the next generation of Nintendo handhelds go 3G? Not a bad question in the year of the iPhone. The iPhone’s sales and game selection have been spanking Nintendo DS like a four year old in Kmart, leaving many to herald the 3-in-1 device as the next “big” hand held gaming device.
In a recent interview with Financial Times (which I cannot read, ’cause I’m a cheap brat and won’t pay for a subscription), Satoru Iwata mentioned that he’s been looking into Amazon’s Kindle service, which utilizes a one time fee system for updates as opposed to a monthly charge, like the iPhone.
“I’m interested because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost,” said Iwata. “…Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month [in mobile phone subscriptions] can be iPhone customers. That doesn’t fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products…the Kindle’s one-off cost would better suit Nintendo’s customer base.”
He warns, “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.”
So is this a smart next move for Nintendo? It certainly seems that the time of the cartridge is dead and gone. I’ll miss the nostalgia factor but I certainly won’t miss all the space they took up in my purse. And if I only had to pay a one time fee, I can see myself warming up to the idea much faster than the monthly subscription hell of iPhone. How ’bout you?
