Why Apple won't get into gaming
Even though Trademork came across an interesting trademark extension filed by Apple that says the company may be planning on releasing a product that could push it into the gaming industry, I just don't think it's even possible.
According to the extension, Apple's trademark extension included, "toys, games, and playthings, namely, handheld units for playing electronic games; handheld units for playing videogames; stand alone videogame machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; and toys, namely battery-powered computer games."
And while this may look like the company is planning to release some sort of gaming platform, why would it? To be quite honest, I don't see any reason why Apple would even attempt to release a gaming system, even though it has enjoyed some success in the handheld market.
After all, with three companies currently vying for control over a multi-billion dollar industry offering a wide array of features, where does Apple fit into the equation? If you ask me, it doesn't.
The most obvious reason why Apple would never get into the gaming industry has nothing to do with money or budget concerns and everything to do with its insistence on keeping all of its hardware so tightly controlled.
In the video game industry, the very first requirement of all hardware manufacturers is to allow other companies access to the console or handheld in order to create games for it. And if we look at Apple's history with its hardware, the company has been able to maintain a relatively stable environment because of its ability to keep its devices out of the hands of those filthy software developers.
To make matters worse, Apple is still trying to gain ground in the computing market and is trying to do all it can to make some headway in the cell phone industry. Does it really have the money and capability to get into another industry that's controlled so heavily by three major players? I doubt it.
Simply put, Apple's trademark extension is nothing more than a way for the company to cover its tail in the slight chance that one day it wants to get in on the video game industry. And if you think anything different, you're incredibly mistaken.
Video games have never been a part of Apple's focus and the culture of the industry will never appeal to the company. Suffice it to say, the very thought of Apple getting into the video game industry is laughable.
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
But just to play Devil's Advocate for a sec.... This is exactly what we said about Apple just before they jumped into the Cell Phone market.
And...
I have an iPod touch that was (now is not) Jail Broken, and the games the independent hackers were putting into the installer.app library were impressive, especially the ones that took advantage of the accelerometer.
I can see Apple putting out some of their own games for the iPhone and the iPod Touch soon. If they don't the SDK developers will.
... In the video game industry, the very first requirement of all hardware manufacturers is to allow other companies access to the console or handheld in order to create games for it. And if we look at Apple's history with its hardware, the company has been able to maintain a relatively stable environment because of its ability to keep its devices out of the hands of those filthy software developers...
If you look at any of the consoles, they are rock solid for the exact same reason that Apple products (for the most part) "just work" - the hardware platforms are locked down tight with no "upgrades" and the OS is locked down to only factory approved options. The games are only applications that run off the read-only memory (cartridge, CD, DVD, etc...) with specific purpose and to take advantage of the equipment within the box - which is completely stable with no variations between units. Game developers cannot modify the OS or the hardware, and THAT is where the stability comes in.
Apple has virtually the same lock on the Hardware and OS in any of their products - if a developer writes to the specs they work like a champ and all plays nice. Apple even encourages software development by giving away Xcode with all Leopard distributions.
Capital, of course. The Video Game market is already larger than the movie, Television, and Music industries, and Apple has pushed into all three. Why not go for the larger target?
Yes hardware shouldn?t be locked to expand game business. That?s where the iPod Touch & iPhone come in. Opening up to SDK will enable it to be developed like PSP, better indeed. (imagination flies). Then yes again, not on the computer, Mac OSX not opening up but have we forgot Apple TV? It?s gonna act like Xbox, PS3 console dude! Games purchase wirelessly. Yes may not have DVD, Blue Disc, HDDVD, but what?s pulling it back? Nothing actually.
Nomastalgic
See Apple Pippin Wiki page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Pippin
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by nomastalgic
June 21, 2008 8:45 PM PDT
- i agree
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