iOS and Android Eat Into Nintendo DS and Sony PSP Sales

Posted on Apr 18 2011 - 6:10pm by Thomas Sharp

New data from a US research firm has finally confirmed what the rest of us have known for a long time, the Apple iPhone and Android powered handsets have taken a large chunk out of the handheld gaming market share.

The data has shown that since 2009 Nintendo has lost a large portion of its market share to iOS and Android powered devices. In 2009 Nintendo enjoyed 70% US market share with Sony holding 11% with their Playstation portable console (PSP). In 2010 Sony’s share was reduced to just 9% whilst Nintendo suffered the largest loss whilst still retaining 57% of the overall market share.

The big winner’s were iOS and Android which increased their combined market share by 13%, sadly the data didn’t show which operating system gained the most but we are sure this data will be made available in the future.

Although the 13% loss could be cause for concern for traditional handhelds you must remember that Nintendo has just released the 3DS and Sony has just released their Xperia play and is thought to be releasing the Sony NGP (PSP2) sometime later this year. The two heavy hitters in the portable gaming market will hope that their new devices will provide enough incentive for gamers to turn off their phones.

That’s no mean feat though, mobile gaming is a huge market where players want games that can be picked up and put down during spare minutes throughout the day. That’s one feature that traditional handhelds find difficult to compete with. That’s not to say traditional consoles are dead and buried, far from it in fact – they still hold 66% of the overall US market share due to their superior specs and of course catalogue of games that are unlikely to go truly mobile anytime soon.

Do you think the mobile phone will eventually replace the traditional handheld gaming console?

via: Cnet

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