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The iPod Observer has posted a new article examining Apple's focus on mobile gaming on the iPhone and iPod Touch. The article includes comments from analysts and industry insiders about the company's potential to succeed against more established gaming companies like Sony and Nintendo.

Apple's emerging business model for games is proving to be quite different than the console games, and whether it will be successful is open to question. "The difference between Nintendo and Apple is that Apple treats content as a commodity and Nintendo treats hardware as a commodity," Billy Pidgeon, an analyst with IDC. said. "That's why I would be skeptical about Apple's potential as a real force in the games business. It does play against the traditional razor-razorblade model employed by the gaming industry."

However, Andrew Ayre, the CEO of the company that developed Super Monkey Ball pointed out that Apple is, in a variation of Mr. Schiller's comment, actually targeting a new demographic, mobile games. "From a development standpoint, it's very easy and straightforward to develop for and certainly the graphics and the features such as the touch screen and the accelerometer are pretty unique," Mr. Ayre said.

iPod Observer: Games May Be Apple's Next Big Thing

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