AAPL.O

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johnny k
You didn't answer my question - what's wrong with the current way, where your iPod/iPad is the controller and the platform?

I find the lack of tactile feedback from the touchscreen devices very frustrating. I have to keep looking to see where to put my fingers, and then look back at the main screen. A PS or XBox controller, on the other hand, can have be manipulated without even looking at it, and has many more functions than an iPod Touch can support.

As far as I am concerned, a true gaming machine will require controllers with physical joystick(s) and/or buttons. Anything else is just a casual platform.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2011 09:30PM by John Willoughby.

Seeing that Apple doesn't target niche markets (hard core gaming is a niche) but rather the top end of a mass market, my guess is that if they want to go down this route, they'll come out with an advanced version of your average controller that makes it super easy and super accessible to large groups of people.

Since they get a cut of every sale on the iTunes AppStore they really don't have to turn a profit on the hardware. But not a huge loss either, as Microsoft and Sony have been doing with their much too-advanced-for-their-time consoles.

Apple is not going to make low- to no-margin hardware. The App Store is providing only %1 of Apple's revenue, and has already trimmed the fat margins that game companies were living off of.

Agreed that physical controls are too niche for Apple. I would extend that to say that dedicated gaming hardware in general is too niche for Apple, even a controller. Anyone smell Pippen? Jobs is not a games visionary and I don't see Apple making hardware that he wouldn't use. Developers are doing great with the current setup. If anything, Nintendo's next Wii is following Apple with big touchscreen controllers that have enough hardware to run the game on their own screens. The relative mystery around the set-top portion of it makes me wonder if it's the dumber part of the system.

Like a grid computing hub?

I think tliet is correct.

Johnny k…  they make the shitass apple remotes so there's plenty precedent. it's no different than a magic mouse… 

Like you say, it's shitass. No heart in making that. You really want that level of effort put into a game controller? Apple hates buttons, which is funny considering they make the nicest ones out there. And with the Kinect and all Apple's patents heralding the 'natural user interface', you really think Apple's going to backtrack here? If, and I mean IF, Apple does make a standalone game controller, it's going to be something radical based on gestures and accelerometers and other sensors, not old-fashioned mechanical switches.

Point taken.

Counterpoint…

http://www.fastcompany.com/1663544/apple-patent-haptic-touchscreen-multitouch-multihaptic-smartphones

Now that's what I'm talking about. Forward, not back.

http://venturebeat.com/2011/07/18/apple-earnings-preview/

Earnings tomorrow. We seeing pump and dump or pump and pump?

aapl did well. stock popped. near $400 in after hours trading. if that holds then i've made around $11,000 in 6 months. would have made more if i had more balls when steve announced he was going out.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/19/2011 11:54AM by bahamut.

Things have changed… none of you calling out the call?

And Aapl isn't the scrappy underdog, it's the second largest company in the US… and closing fast… Incredible.

It's quarterly profits are now more than their annual revenue was back in the bad old days...

I've stopped paying attention to those numbers. At this point they're so big they're almost meaningless. I saw a comment today that apple could buy a bunch of (rather poor) countries outright.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/blockbuster-iphone-sales-fuel-apple-shares-20110720-1hno5.html

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Apple chief executive Tim Cook told analysts the company was particularly optimistic about Greater China, which includes mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, where Apple's year-over-year revenue was up sixfold at $US3.8 billion. Overall, Asia Pacific revenue more than tripled to $US6.3 billion in the quarter.
"I firmly believe that we are just scratching the surface right now," Cook said of China. "I think there is an incredible opportunity for Apple there."

Aha!

How nuts is it that Apple sold 20 million of a year-old phone this quarter? Really kills the idea that specs will win in this market. Now the number one smartphone seller on the planet.

I pass big Nokia home offices each day on the way to work. I thought I heard some giant wailing noise today.

ddt

It's their new default ringtone.

I think this is a great analysis

So we are witnessing a pivotal moment in the product’s strategy. By slightly lifting off the gas in terms of product cycle, Apple actually set the iPhone loose. The imposition of a yearly cycle on the product coupled with unlimited demand caused it to be artificially constrained.

The thinking is that because of the 12mo turnover between phones, they were actually holding themselves back from the full capacity of their sales. I would add there's definitely a Osbourne Effect there, where if you knew Jun was comin, you waited for a new phone, now its longer time period means people can cycle through most of their contact (in the US) or get a decent amount of use out of your 'full freight' cost (europe/asia).

As hard to believe as it is even for me, I think Apple has quite a lot of room to grow, and definitely has the tools to make that huge growth happen.

Morg "Exxon market cap, here we come" anti

Perhaps Obama should have a chat with Steve...

It's pretty sad and damning actually that it has come this far. Corporations are richer than the countries they're in. And nobody is questioning this?