Should the iPhone fear the DSi and PSP2?

Ever since the iPhone’s App Store made its debut we’ve seen various industry experts assure us that the ‘old guard’ of Sony and Nintendo would find themselves on the sharp end of a particularly sound thrashing thanks to the impressively diverse capabilities of Apple’s device and the seamless delivery method afforded by the platform’s gloriously streamlined download service.

Fast forward a few months and it has swiftly become clear that both the iPhone and traditional handheld consoles are able to exist happily within the same marketplace.

Nintendo’s machine is appealing to an entirely different sector of the gaming community that isn’t in the position to purchase an iPhone yet. And Sony’s PSP may be trailing the DS, but it’s still shifted a highly commendable 50 million units worldwide, roughly half of the unbelievable figure that Nintendo has achieved with its dual-screen handheld.

However, the launch of the feature-packed DSi has mudded the waters slightly, and recent rumours regarding the all-conquering nature of the touchscreen PSP2 mean that ironically it’s the iPhone that could find itself under threat in the near future.

Have the tables been turned on Apple? Is the hunter in danger of becoming the hunted?

DSi vs iPhone

Although the DSi isn’t quite as groundbreaking as Nintendo’s hype machine would have you believe (the two selling points - the ability to take photos and download games using an wireless connection - are both offered by the current generation PSP) it shows that Apple’s entrance into the industry is so significant that it has influenced the thinking of the company that arguably has the most experience of all the key hardware manufacturers.

With over 6000 games currently available for download on the App Store, Nintendo is clearly going to be playing a fearsome game of catch up with its own virtual shop front, but it does have one vital advantage - it’s probably the greatest software developer on the face of the planet, with an unrivalled reputation for innovation and playability.

Early DSiWare titles have been somewhat uninspiring, but given time it’s possible that we'll witness games that blow away anything currently available to iPhone owners. The promise of an all-new WarioWare or Mario Bros title is truly tantalising.

However, it’s hard to escape the fact that the DSi isn’t a next-gen console; it’s merely an embellishment of hardware that's now four years old and was technically outdated by the PSP when it was first launched.

Nintendo was quick to point out that the new machine sports a faster processor, but it’s hard to believe the company will make serious use of it - doing so would effectively isolate the 100 million people out there who own a DS or DS Lite, as opposed to this new model.

As the history has proven, this kind of piecemeal hardware enhancement only serves to confuse and alienate the consumer.

Nintendo has promised that the DSi will offer ‘new ways to play and interact’ and only a fool would suggest that the company lacks the talent to turn something as inconsequential as an 0.3 megapixel camera into a revolutionary addition, but the machine’s multimedia aspirations are distinctly lightweight when compared to the iPhone or even the PSP (it plays AAC files but not MP3s, for example).

The strength of the iPhone is that it does lots of things and (most importantly) does them well. With an iPhone in your palm you can listen to music, watch videos, surf the web with a fair degree of comfort, make a telephone call AND do a spot of gaming.

By all accounts surfing the internet with the DSi is a painful experience thanks to the low resolution of the screens, and the ability to play just one format of music file from the paltry 256MB of internal storage (granted the device also has a memory card slot) isn’t going to have people ditching their MP3 players any time soon.

So if the DSi likely to keep Steve Jobs awake at night? Not in our opinion. Just as was the case with the original DS, this machine is aimed at a different customer entirely and both machines will be able to live side-by-side in harmony.

PSP2 vs iPhone?

With this in mind, the closest rival to the iPhone has to be seen as the PSP2. Sony has been notoriously tight-lipped on this console but recent development chatter would suggest that it’s well into development, will boast a touchscreen interface and may even eschew traditional physical media to adopt a totally online distribution method, like the App Store.

Advocates of this approach will point out that Apple’s success has proven that a games machine can exist without having to rely on physical software sales.

However, while Apple has made a pretty penny from digital download sales, it would be naive to assume that this business model would automatically ensure success for any PSP successor. iPhone owners are generally tech-savvy individuals that have already fully embraced the concept of purchasing all of their music online, so downloadable gaming is merely an extension of that.

However, while Apple has a right to be chuffed with the cash it has made via game downloads on the App Store, traditional gaming companies like Sony rely heavily on the old-fashioned distribution channels that have served them well over the past few years and can’t simply jettison them so easily.

Profit from a major UMD-based game release like Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories or God of War: Chains of Olympus eclipses anything currently available on the App Store, and its wise to remember that many gamers are blissfully ignorant of online distribution.

You only need stand in your local high street videogame emporium to understand that there are plenty of people out there that aren’t quite ready to embrace the digital revolution just yet. Phasing out physical sales would mean that Sony would lose these customers.

Of course, there’s the argument that until Sony looks at including communication functionality in its products, comparing the PSP2 to the iPhone is like comparing a chalk and chicken: the iPhone is, as its name suggests, a communications device first and foremost, and the gaming element (along with everything else that makes the device so irresistible) is merely a bonus.

However, despite the obvious connection with Sony Ericsson, Sony Computer Entertainment seems dead set against the idea, so this doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon.

The verdict? We can’t really see the PSP2 and the iPhone duking it out, in all honesty. Just as is the case with the DSi, Sony’s future handheld is likely to be aimed at a different portion of the games-buying public.

If the company’s position on including mobile phone features in the PSP2 changes then obviously that will place the two devices in direct competition with one another, but given Sony’s recent stance on that topic, we’re not holding our breath here at Pocket Gamer Towers.

What are your thoughts on this potentially prickly debate? Will the DSi prove everyone wrote and make people put down their iPhones en-masse, or will Apple’s machine shrug off the challenge and become even stronger, until Sony decide to square up with the PSP2? As always, let us know by dropping a comment below.