The rumor of Apple entering the video game console market has surfaced yet again on the Internet, along with the old news that Apple has indeed hired new software and hardware game developers.
So what does this mean? Nothing really. For now, everything is speculation and revolves around strategizing Apple's position in what is quickly becoming a multimedia market where a firm dabbles in everything from the home PC to gaming to mp3 players, movies and more. Prudential analyst Jesse Tortora's projections and theories for Apple's potential future sparked most of the current "iConsole" excitement.
Tortora is reported telling clients in a research note that, "We think the video game market represents a distinct possibility for Apple, especially considering that it recently announced the availability of video games for its iTunes store."
Tortora believes a console device could be developed through the blending of the MacMini and iTV. A respective handheld device could be molded from "a future version of the widescreen iPod."
How far Apple may choose to advance with its game development lies in how big of a threat they perceive Microsoft and Sony to be. Recently, Microsoft introduced a video download feature for the XBox 360, and Tortora expects Sony to follow suit. Such competition could adversely affect and possibly hurt iTunes' video sales, as well as the iPod video and iTV sales.
Another point Tortora brings to light that a common strategy in the game console market is to subsidize hardware with profitable, well-developed games/software. Apple would be a little out of it's element, since it is accustomed to bringing in profits through hardware. "Apple would then have to either rely on the sales of its games and downloadable movies to make enough profit to cover losses on hardware or figure out a stragety to make profits on hardware itself," said Tortora. He also expressed his belief in Apple having the assets to join the game market with its well-recognized and supported brand name, and ingenuity in design.
This is sure an impressive amount of talk for mere rumors. If Apple does enter the game market, hopefully their attempt will be more successful than the Pippin, an early Apple console that was awarded PC World Magazine's the 25 Worst Tech Products of All Time.
However, as the tendency with the Internet is, rumors tend to spawn rumors. And as expected, every person from every message board seems to have their own opinion. Eric Boyd, the self-proclaimed Digital Crusader, here has a near conspiracy theory going. Others prefer to talk of a Nintendo-Apple merger . Others still prefer n00b-esque rantings
"We speak the truth! My iConsole is amazing. I find more and more options every day! Last week it was "wash dishes", "do laundry", and "keep guns from kids". Just this afternoon I came across the "Reduce crime" option. As soon as I turned it on, my next door neighbor returned all my powertools! Wow!" -CNET.com message boards
Just remember: as interesting and non-fictitious Apple's console speculations may seem, the iConsole idea is in no way official.
Written By Meggo the Eggo