The Apple iPad 2 launched last Friday and some analysts believe that nearly one-million units were sold over the weekend. Later this month, the Nintendo 3DS will launch and demand is expected to be similarly crazy. Which product will have the more impressive launch week? On one hand, the iPad 2 has a broader appeal since it’s a multifaceted device that offers excellent browsing, decent gaming, and fantastic media consumption. The Nintendo 3DS is also multifaceted, but its focus is on gaming. It also has the allure of 3D and a lower price point. Which company will sell more in week one? Take today’s poll and state your case (please)!
[poll id=”106″]
iPad 2. Hard for me to see a dedicated device outselling a tablet built by Apple. Opening weekend anyway.
its hard for me to bet against nintendo, i wont do it again
In this contest I would be against Nintendo, simply because I don't believe it will have the supply to compete.
I don't think Nintendo will put up the same numbers, unfortunately. There are too many macheads out there who will buy the iPad 2, and too few dedicated gamers out there who will buy the 3DS. The people who are both will buy the iPad 2 now and the 3DS later because apple products seem to have the "gotta have it now" draw to them.
I would much rather see the 3DS blow the iPad 2 out of the water though.
@BSU
I get the feeling you are an Apple hater. I own both platforms. I can definitively say that if it wasn't for PC gaming…I wouldn't buy a windows based machine.
That said…I'd be buying the 3DS on launch if the titles intrigued me.
@Smartguy
I'm not a fan of a lot of things that Apple promotes. They have some great qualities, that is undeniable, and I can and do use some of their products. I do hate the control that they have over some people and how they promote and design their systems (curated computing comes to mind). Apple hater is probably a strong way of putting it, but I can't really deny that. However, I wasn't trying to bring that out in this. As a gamer I would rather see a dedicated gaming system outsell a practically any other piece of new tech., also I have stood behind Nintendo handhelds my entire life.
As far as buying both in concerned, I know that you have even stated in the past that the lack of interest in the launch titles was enough for you to shy away from it at first. If that wasn't the case though you might get both of these items at their respective launches, but that is definitely not the case for the majority of people. In a similar comparison I would love to own a PS3 and a 360, but the cost for having both far outweighs any interest (or lack thereof) in games for either system.
If you view the iPad 2 and the 3DS simply as interesting new tech you will probably find a lot of people who would love to own both at launch, but it comes down to whether or not they can afford both at launch or not. I would say most people cannot, and even past that point there are more people who are more interested in new Apple tech rather than gaming (macheads, a term I'm using descriptively—not pejoratively) which will also help drive sales up. From the point of view from someone who is interested in new tech. as well as gaming, the gaming side of me wins out and wants to see the dedicated gaming system is what I want to see do better.
@BSU
Fair assessment. Consoles are pretty curated though, as are tablets and smartphones unless you root/jailbreak them.
I do applaud Nintendo for putting 3D gaming to the mass market by not telling them to go buy one of their 2.5k 3Dtvs and expensive glasses like Kaz did. First to market should be huge for them. I see this device (3DS) outselling the NGP though. The NGP competes with the tablet and smartphone market more it would seem.
@Smartguy
I agree that providing 3D to the consumers at a reasonable price (better than a new 3Dtv) will be a great advantage for Nintendo. The implications that that has for new tech. in general is one of the reasons why I think it can have the ability to draw in people who are interested in new tech. more exclusively, but cost will win out. I agree the NGP will be outsold by the 3DS, there is the first to market appeal which I feel they also had with the Wii's motion controls.
Consoles are definitely more curated as well, but I am more ok with that than computers. Curated computing leads to people not understanding the systems they are using, and lack of knowledge as well as simply accepting what is presented to you as the truth and the the absolute (similar to the way that many people accept what Steve Jobs says as an absolute statement or refuse to admit that Apple doesn't always get it right and is still a mortal company like the rest of them). Lack of knowledge about the system you are using is a dangerous thing because it breeds comfort with being told what to do and how to use a product instead of allowing for creativity and openness. Yes Apple products are great for creative work and designing things, but there is a difference between the amount of control that a user has over a product.
Sure my iPod touch looks good when I click it on, but that is such a curated design and for as good as it looks I hate seeing it every time because I am reminded of curated computing once again. Also, think about all of the news reports we have heard in the past (and will likely hear in the future) concerning the ambiguity of the App Store guidelines, or an app being pulled or not published with no explanation. These are very Orwellian topics that arise when there is a discussion about curated computing, and that is one thing that I associate very closely with Apple. As much as Aldous Huxley has been right about his predictions from "Brave New World," Orwell still has the potential for a lot of his predictions to be right in formats other than government.
It is a world where computers do rule, and those who know how to use computers have the power. That may sound cliche but that is the world we live in. Curated computing does not help people learn how to actually write programs for computers though, it actually puts them at a disadvantage to learning those skills. You can either learn to program, or be programmed.
@BSU
So you consider an iPad, iPod Touch, and iPhone to be commodity computers? I do not. They are merely consumption devices. Sure they can mimic some functions of a normal computer such as spreadsheet creation (that's a pain on iPad honestly), documents, scans, etc. With apps like iMovie and Garageband these devices are slowly moving towards becoming commodity machines so the app store guidelines will be brought to court eventually. IBM ran into this issue a while back by trying to only have approved IBM software run on its machines. The courts knocked it down. Apple may censor and put through hard motions what can be on the store, but google recently had to remote wipe apps off of devices that were considered malicious. I'd be a lot more concerned with that being the case than something not approved for the App store. The App store is merely a way of becoming official. The App store didn't stop Google from making a web client for Google Voice. Such will be the case going forward for Apps who are told No by Apple. I'd bet this will be the same for Windows, RIM, and Google as well.
I hardly see the difference in a curated console experience when compared to an iOS device. MS won't let you use anything but their currency, file formats, or install from their store. It is simply missing a web browser. The PS3 is the same but it includes a web browser. The 3DS is much more the same as will the NGP be.
I have to disagree about curated environments leading to people not understanding underlying fundamentals of operation and use. The curated machine does offer something that is quite nice, they work. We expect what we spend money on to work. For instance…quite a few enthusiast consumers will call the Apple products overpriced and underpowered. I am willing to meet in the middle when it comes to the price of the laptops..but my 27inch iMac was priced fair when I analyze it. I also do not feel it is underpowered what so ever. I think the only thing my new PC has over my iMac is the video card. A machine being modular by design so I can replace and upgrade is cool, but not necessary for me as long as it is built well. Sort of different but my truck is fine the way it is. Of course I could add components to it, but nothing that I think will extend its useful life.
One awesome aspect of iPads or any curated device is that it slowly and efficiently replaces antiquated technologies. This could not only be good for the environment but also helps pushes us toward a completely tech minded society. Kind of the car example again but how many people own a car can also build one by ordering all of the parts? Owning a home?
@Smartguy
I don't personally think that that is what they are, but that is how people use them. I know that there are people out there who have gotten rid of their computers and switched to an iPad. People are looking towards devices like that as computing options. One day maybe Apple will actually be taken to court over some of the issues they have had with things like the App Store policies.
I see a difference in curated consoles vs. curated computing due to the intent that they were created for and the purpose that they serve. I want my consoles to do a very limited number of actions, so if they streamline the UI so that it gets me to the small number of options that I want quicker that is different to me than streamlining a computer that I am using for many more functions.
Curated experiences do lead to a lack of knowledge on the subject of tech. though. When you grow up with a system you learn how it functions, so when you grow up with a curated experience you only see the clean pretty UI, not the details of how it is actually accomplished. The car and house examples are comparable, but not completely relevant. We don't live in a world where everyone HAS to have a car or has to know how to build an entire house, etc. And these things are cool when it comes to tech., but the software is what people need to know because while we don't live in the aforementioned worlds (car and house dominated) we do live in a computer dominated world. That is the key concept to keep in mind for why the knowledge of computer software is more important than some other things. When it comes to these things we have to remember that we are not the norm of the future. I would assume that you didn't grow up working on a Mac OS, maybe you did, but I grew up on Windows 3.1. Now we can see a difference in the way these system operate compared to modern OS's (for Windows 3.1 only, I cannot comment accurately on a comparable Mac OS from the same time), text based vs. visual based. Open vs. curated. etc. We grew up with a better knowledge of OS's that used text for commands and operations, yes there is a similarity of icons but I remember running everything on our computer from C:Windows. That is completely different from clicking on an App icon. The mind grows up in a different way, and the knowledge that we have on this subject is mostly pre-obtained instead of learned on curated devices
@bsu
You are supporting the angle you are arguing against. You want your consoles limited..ok. Someone wants their email, Internet, picture device curated. Streamlines the functionality they want. There is no difference here. Why do you use a console when you can use a PC? It's more complicated and not as streamlined is why.
I'm not building or buying my parents or grandparents a PC and teaching them how to write in java or use nested IF functions in excel. If they only want basic functionality then so be it. Less stress on me honestly.
The house example is relevant. You live in a domicile that has indoor plumbing and electricity right? If you didn't build it, then it is like buying a MacBook. If you rent an apartment that would be akin to a console. Functional yet no expansion or mods unless a landlord permits such.
I don't think a tech driven world is full of terminal jockeys who bang on their keyboards like the ass clowns on CSI whilst explaining some algorithm. That's fake and backwards. We have GUI for a reason. I'd hate to go back to DOSshell and XTree Gold. My first two OS. Our tech is becoming more sophisticated everyday and interlaces with existing tech to function. Simplifying the experience for a person makes tech integration that much easier.
I will admit though that spell check makes kids stupid.
Damn PAX kicked my ass (in terms of walking, must of did like 15-20 miles and I usually do 1 mile a day) then I got sick as hell.
Thanks to Mr. Padilla I got my greasy little hands on a 3DS @ PAX and boy let me tell you, from gamer to gamer, it is awesome! I got to play SSFIV for a few rounds and was blown away at the graphical prowess possessed by that tiny little machine. I also got to fool around with Steel Diver and the accelerometer (or is it the gyroscope) in the 3DS. I looked through the para scope and literally had to move the 3DS in a clockwise motion to see my surroundings, pretty cool stuff. Now, back to SSFIV. The game looks amazing on the 3DS but the bottom screen is used to perform one touch combos, which I thought was pretty cheap. The games I played did not pop out at me in 3D, its more like it has an endless internal screen, and by that I mean its all about depth perception.
I had a great time over the weekend @ PAX.
I did not get to meet Rpad because he was hella sick and advised not to fly but he is super cool and was supportive throughout the weekend.
I just got word that there were 69,500 attendees @ PAX East over the weekend. Boston broke the records for all PAX events. East and West.
http://www.masshightech.com/stories/2011/03/14/da…