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Industry Transforming: The iPhone and the Casual User, Enterprise, and Gamer

Monday March 10, 2008 10:33 am PDT by longofest
Many iPhone and iPod Touch users and industry observers have noted that the iPhone platform is revolutionizing the mobile phone industry. Recently, Blake from iPodHacks.com analyzed the way the industry is transforming for the casual user, the enterprise, and even the gamer.

With iPhone software v2.0 (expected in June) and the recently released SDK, Blake notes that casual and enterprise users will have a lot to look forward to. In the enterprise specifically, the addition of more robust PUSH functionality and other corporate features promises to give RIM a run for their money.

However the most interesting comparison (in this editor's eyes) comes from Blake's comparison between the iPhone and the Sony PSP and the Nintendo DS. Apple made it clear during its presentation that native games were one of Apple's focuses with the SDK, and Blake points out that the iPhone's hardware gives Apple an edge when competing with Sony and Nintendo.

  • Sony PSP
    • Processor: MIPS CPU @ 222 or 333MHz (selectable)
    • Screen: 480x272 pixels
    • Input: D-pad, analog stick
  • Nintendo DS
    • Processor: two ARM CPUs (67MHz and 33MHz)
    • Screen: two 256x192 pixel screens
    • Input: D-pad, touch-screen
  • iPhone
    • Processor: ARM CPU @ 620MHz
    • Screen: 480x320 pixels
    • Input: multitouch, accelerometer


Note both the PSP and the Nintendo DS cost much less than the iPhone or iPod Touch, however some may feel the added capabilities of the iPhone and iPod Touch may justify the price difference.
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macduke
Posted: 51 months ago
I have an iPhone, love it, and think it would be great for games. But I think we might be kidding ourselves if we think it would be a greater overall platform for games than a PSP. First of all it has tactile controls. This cannot be overstated. As for graphical horsepower, I'm not so sure that we can simply look at CPU clock speeds. I would imagine that the PSP has a more powerful graphics core than the iPhone. It features 512-bit interfaced 2mb dedicated graphics memory which can push somewhere around 35 million polygons a second. I thought the iPhones graphics were just a vector floating point coprocessor for 3d as a part of the arm chip. Does anyone know for sure which one is more powerful?
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dongmin
Posted: 51 months ago

I have an iPhone, love it, and think it would be great for games. But I think we might be kidding ourselves if we think it would be a greater overall platform for games than a PSP. First of all it has tactile controls. This cannot be overstated. As for graphical horsepower, I'm not so sure that we can simply look at CPU clock speeds. I would imagine that the PSP has a more powerful graphics core than the iPhone. It features 512-bit interfaced 2mb dedicated graphics memory which can push somewhere around 35 million polygons a second. I thought the iPhones graphics were just a vector floating point coprocessor for 3d as a part of the arm chip. Does anyone know for sure which one is more powerful?


The controller issue could potentially be resolved by adding a d-pad accessory. But this may not even be an issue. The iPhone will spawn a whole different type of gaming with the multi-touch and accelerometer. The Wii and DS are proof of this potential.

And for graphics capabilities, one advantage the iphone has is that it's on a much faster hardware update cycle. The iPod Touch platform will soon run on Intel's Atom platform. Intel will keep pushing newer and faster chips and Apple, as been the case lately, will have no choice but to go along.
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dr_lha
Posted: 51 months ago

And for graphics capabilities, one advantage the iphone has is that it's on a much faster hardware update cycle. The iPod Touch platform will soon run on Intel's Atom platform. Intel will keep pushing newer and faster chips and Apple, as been the case lately, will have no choice but to go along.

The trouble is that for the iPhone to be gaming platform, it needs to be a stable platform, which means that no matter how much more powerful the iPhone becomes, game makers will have to target the lowest common denominator (i.e. the current iPhone/iPod Touch).

Changing CPU shouldn't be an issue (the SDK already targets 2 platforms, the ARM iPhone and the i386 Aspen Simulator), but making assumptions about how powerful your CPU is could lead to a lot of disgruntled iPhone users being told that they need to upgrade their iPhone to play the latest game, i.e. much like PC gaming.

This is not an issue for DS or PSP owners.
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sebastianlewis
Posted: 51 months ago
Keep in mind that one of the ARM CPUs in the DS is for backwards compatibility with Gameboy Advance games.

Sebastian
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ChrisA
Posted: 51 months ago

The iPod Touch platform will soon run on Intel's Atom platform.


No way. That's not going to happen any time soon. Atom is not intended for this kind of device.
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ChrisA
Posted: 51 months ago

The trouble is that for the iPhone to be gaming platform, it needs to be a stable platform, which means that no matter how much more powerful the iPhone becomes, game makers will have to target the lowest common denominator (i.e. the current iPhone/iPod Touch).


I don't think so. If I were writing a game for the iPhone I'd have the game look at the hardware and then turn on or off certain features of the game based on the capabilies of the device. This could happen each time the game is launched but more likely it would be better to do this when the game is installed. I think this would give users what they expect, that the gameswould look better and do more after the iPhone is upgraded to a newer model
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blakespot
Posted: 51 months ago

Keep in mind that one of the ARM CPUs in the DS is for backwards compatibility with Gameboy Advance games.

Sebastian

Both CPUs can and are usually used in concert for native DS titles, FYI. It's not merely there to run old code.

I am a big fan of the DS, by the way. I use a PSP as well, but my favorite portable gamer is the GP2X. Lovely, open unit. Let's see if the iPhone becomes my favorite game machine here shortly....


blakespot
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ubersalad
Posted: 51 months ago
I don't care much about iphone's capability as a gaming device, it is a business GOD machine when June rolls around if Apple keeps its promises. I also highly doubt a large population of iphone users care as well.
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UCLA-Bruin
Posted: 51 months ago
Apple takes these things in small bites (or bytes?) - they are gearing up to take over the entire RIM/BlackBerry marketshare...and probably want to keep the attention there for now. This is a good idea, since a venture into the business world doesn't play well if you are pushing the same device as a gaming machine.
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ThanatosId
Posted: 51 months ago
From a marketing view, Apple has put themselves into an amazing place. You're right about pushing the iPhone as enterprise God rather than the portable gaming God. I think Apple will use the touch as their gaming push. Both will be able to function as game and enterprise, but buyers won't be confused as to wether they are the target market or not.
I would hate to be in RIMs, Sony's or Nintendo's board room when June hits!
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