The problem is thinking that they want to make a console. I doubt they do. They may be thinking about pushing the iphone/ipod touch more heavily as game machine

The problem is thinking that they want to make a console. I doubt they do. They may be thinking about pushing the iphone/ipod touch more heavily as game machines. The portable gaming market has a lot of room yet. "1. The Best Ideas Are Already Taken" Digital distribution: Other companies have started to do it, but the only distribution on portable devices are either java games for phones or dinky little games off Nintendo’s DSi service. The PSP has something, but it seems ad hoc and fiddly. Apple have distro down pat. It’s about as easy as it gets. Pricing: Make it cheap basically. Go for volume. Valve is a company that understands this. They commonly discount products to a huge degree in order to stimulate sales and it’s not hurting them, the opposite in fact. If you want to look at games as mass-media, you can see there is still a way to go. Compare them to movies. Films in general cost substantially more — or can at least — yet will be priced much lower than games when offered at retail. Games in comparison are still being treated like premium products with premium pricing. There are a bunch of other issues affecting how well a game can succeed — accessibility and subject-matter for example — but there is no practical reason why games can’t be made that will sell more cheaply, to more people. I’m still dubious about a big push into games, but Apple is a surprising company, so I wouldn’t discount it entirely.