back to article Apple to announce handheld games console at WWDC?

It's Monday lunchtime, and Apple's online store is still out of iPhones. Left-of-field speculation says this means the 3G iPhone's release is coming sooner than thought. If so, what might Apple have in mind for its Worldwide Developer Conference instead? In recent weeks, UK iPhone suppliers O2 and Carphone Warehouse have both …

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  1. Ivan Headache

    @ fibbles

    Hahahahahaha....

    Apple... and gaming? Seriously, I've just fallen off my chair...

    Didn't they say that about microsoft?

  2. /etc
    Gates Horns

    There's nothing even remotely close

    @Anonymous Coward

    "Apple makes a phone which is in most ways substandard to the competition"

    Yeah, the world is just brim-full of innovative, break-the-current-awful-UI mould, smartphones that offer true multi-touch, superlative industrial design in hardware with huge high-resolution screens, massive amounts of storage, *and* run a full Unix-based OS, besides having an environment for development comparable to the Cocoa frameworks for elegance, finish, power, maturity, and speed of development, and that have a browser equivalent to a desktop machine.

    Better! There's nothing even remotely close. No wonder RIM are scared -- to say nothing of the makers churning out dross running the pathetic Win CE or Symbian with crappy lowest-common-denominator Java applets running on top.

    It's like comparing a BMW with a 1970s Eastern-bloc rustbucket, and saying, "BMW makes a substandard car ..." You can *say* it, but it's moronic.

    There might be a Linux-based device along to compete in at least some areas in a couple of years. Currently, there's nothing that even comes within spitting distance.

  3. James Pickett
    Jobs Horns

    @Ted

    "Apple is about quality, not trendy"

    Sorry - lost for words..

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So simple.

    Will, I totally agree, the ipod is the best MP3 player for most people. It is simple to use and it does look good. The simplicity and style makes it a first choice for kids through to granny. I would also say that this formula works for most apple products- buy it, un-box it, switch it on and use and enjoy it.

    Any visit to an Apple high street store will confirm this, the stores are full of people of all ages being assisted by staff who know and are passionate about their products,they look human, speak human and treat the customers as human beings. The stores are full of people purchasing, receiving after sale care and help or are doing group or one to one training.

    The support offered remotely as part of the purchase or from .Mac is second to none.

    No wonder Apple is booming, you do pay slightly more for the stuff but for that little extra you get so much more. I have never felt robbed or unvalued as a consumer. Un like when I bought my first PC, which I had to return to the popular store from which it came, the attitude was something like...

    "....and you have fully paid for this machine and its' 2 months old.....Hmmm oh wait sorry gotta go theres' a bloke over there with a credit card I think he's going to spend, hope you get you computer fixed some how....'

  5. Steve

    @ Will

    "Techies fail to realise this time and again, the vast majority of the populous have no clue when it comes to technology."

    I'm still not entirely convinvced that my brother understands that the CDs he's ripped are not "in" iTunes or Media Player. When I tried to explain that mp3 is a file format and not just "music on a computer" I thought he was going to have an aneurysm.

    He still hasn't topped my sister saying "The computers broken and there is gibberish all over the screen." and me figuring out that she had tried to open a MAME ROM in MS Word, didn't see any words and so she just "moved" the file. I then had to explain that when we move a file to the Recycle Bin, it's called "deleting".

    It's like pulling a part out of your car engine and hitting it with a hammer because you don't understand what it's for.

  6. Glenn Amspaugh
    Jobs Halo

    Maybe a PDA?

    I'm still looking for a replacement for my Newton 2100. The iPod touch is almost there but still not exactly what I'd like. If they do come up with a small game platform/PDA, that can surf the web and email, I'll get one. Sub $200.00 would be sweet!

    Mine's the one with Kool-Aide© stains.

  7. Ted
    Happy

    @ James

    You are at a loss of words since you don't know quality products very well. Apple "does the WHOLE object", but you seem mired in just the Advertising.

    Apple does quality down to the BIT level, the ZEN level... nobody else even thinks of making a product with such detail in mind.

    So sure, it's EASY to dismiss Apple by looking at Apple's successful advertising, but Apple does EVERYTHING at that level, that's why its computers and software are so popular... they really CARE at the deepest atomic level which is totally unlike any other Computer or Software firm.

    Someday you'll get a Mac or iPod too, and learn the way everything will work going forward... but for now, stop the ignorance, everyone that has an Apple product is laughing at you...

    -

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    apple?... games?... don't laugh yet!

    even as someone webster would refer to as a 'kool-aid drinker', i'd be the first to admit that seeing the words 'apple' and 'games' in the same sentence is usually a cause for cringeing embarrassment. and i reckon this rumour i about as accurate as most of the drivel which appears on macrumors [sic].

    however, as someone previously said, apple do already have a potential gaming platform in the shape of the ipod touch and/or iphone. now, before you spit coffee all over your keyboard, why not check out this article, which gives a pretty convincing argument as to why the concept of 'apple gaming' might not be as ridiculous as we all think:

    http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2008/03/20/iphone-20-sdk-video-games-to-rival-nintendo-ds-sony-psp/

  9. alphaxion

    @will

    Actually, the best thing about the ipod wasn't the device but its symbiosis with itunes. itunes was what made the ipod with its frankly brilliant smart playlist and syncing system (far superior to the granular, but time wasting drag n drop).

    This meant that I didn't have to do anything other than make sure my files were correctly tagged up and any new stuff I added to itunes and was caught by the smart playlists and automatically dumped to my ipod the next tiem I charged it up.

    *that* was the key selling point... however, itunes has been on the decline for the past couple of years and has become a bloated 70's elvis awaiting for that one more feature/burger to give it a cardiac arrest.

    Apple really need to sort out itunes and return it to the sleak app it used to be, or else its ipod sales are gonna mystically dry up should someone else come up with their own syncing solution that is as great as itunes used to be.

    Also, for those who think that apple can dominate the portable console market, may they have better luck than the others who tried (neogeo, atari, wonderswan, gizmodo, nokia...) but in all seriousness, it'll be a nigh on impossible task to overhaul the 65million DSes that are already in peoples hands (mine included.. I also have a PSP but that has its own problems).

  10. alphaxion

    @ted

    Yeah, they really care about what they sell to you. Only the highest quality and a generous amount of product when you fork out that premium.

    I would advise that you compare the contents of the box you got with a 2nd to 3rd gen ipod (which is when I bought my first one, the moment they added windows support, tho I had to use ephpod because the bundled musicmatch was great example on how not to make a media application) with the contents of what you get today and see how much they care about you and your experience.

    Lets see shall we?

    ipod circa 2002/2003

    ipod

    ear phones

    dock

    powerbrick

    firewire and/or usb cable

    software

    cleaning cloth

    carry case (originally this was a belt clip and semi sturdy thing, 2005 this had become a low quality cloth "skin").

    ipod circa 2008

    ipod

    ear phones

    usb cable

    universal dock adapter (actual dock sold separately for £30)

    yeah, they're going the extra mile to make you special *rolls eyes*

  11. Ted
    Happy

    @Alphaxion

    but your comment misses the point. You paid an extra hundred dollars in 2000-2003 for a lot of stuff people just didn't use. Now you get or four times the storage, large color screen, $100 less, and the option for you to pick and choose which accessories you want. Apple has become more environmental, so that some of it, the rest is just to give you more choice.

    Your complaints about iTunes, is all because you're still using Windows. iTunes on the Mac is much more nimble since it doesn't have to deal with the absurdities of a Microsoft product running underneath. So just get a Mac, and quit complaining. Thanks.

  12. alphaxion

    heh

    I actually have a mac, I use it for video encoding primarily during the production of my podcasts.

    itunes has slid a hell of a long way since I first started using it on either OS (I'll still stream my music across the network using itunes).

    There are so many things that irritate me about it now - major niggle at the moment is if I don't listen to a podcast for 2 weeks, it'll stop grabbing files and then wait for you to either manually tell it to download or you listen to one of the files, there's no option to turn this "functionality" off. The whole point of podcasts is that I listen/watch them on my time. I've since moved to using juice again.

    The windows itunes is absolutely horrible (about 4 different background services running because of it) but I'm sure those same services are running in the background on the mac version too and cause slowdowns and spinny beachballs when you try to use it with any proficiency.

    I got plenty of use out of the dock, carry case and powerbrick (which essentially was the sum total of the extras), at the very least you'd think that apple would bundle a carry case with the damn thing (it being portable and liable to scratching) for the price you pay for it.

    Also, don't forget that a lot of the price drop would be down to the economics of the IT industry as well as cheapign out and charging for everything they used to bundle in with the device.

    Also, the price hasn't really fluctuated that much. My 30gb 3rd gen cost me £320, my 60gb 5/6th gen (first of the video ipods) cost me £270-ish.. with about 3 years between them. 3 years and a £50 drop but how much are you "nickel and dimed" for the various other bits that £50 more used to get?

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    re itunes

    i think the nigglers have a good point. for about a year now the sole purpose of updates to itunes seems to be to add more ways for me to buy things through itunes store. i can't remember the last update that actually improved the functionality of the app itself

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