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Nokia N-Gage is a dud, Electronic Arts exec says... |
Krubach
Joined: Dec 05, 2002
Posts: > 500
From: Sunny Portugal! :)
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This is old news, but i just can't stop laughing...
Another indicator that N-Gage is a fiasco:
NEW YORK, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Nokia's (NOK1V.HE) initial entry into the video game player market has been a dud, but don't count the top maker of mobile phones out just yet, an executive with the world's top game publisher said on Friday.
Nokia introduced its portable N-Gage gaming device last fall, but the design of the model which doubles as a cell phone is flawed, said John Riccitiello, president and chief operating officer of Electronic Arts Inc.
"When I picked that thing up I knew it was a dog -- it just feels stupid," Riccitiello said in an interview at the Reuters Technology, Media and Telecommunications Summit in New York. He then mimicked how a person playing a game would have trouble answering a phone call with the bulky taco-shaped device.
Reviews of the N-Gage have for the most part been scathing, particularly in the gaming press, which has heaped scorn on the device's design, its interface, the method for changing games and the price, which is about three times the cost of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, the leader in the handheld market.
Electronics Arts, the world's biggest video games maker, offers around five game titles for the N-Gage, but Riccitiello said unit shipments have been "non-meaningful."
Nokia launched N-Gage with big fanfare last October in an attempt to look for new growth areas outside the mobile phone market where it has a 35 percent global market share.
The handset market grew some 20 percent in unit terms last year, but Nokia's revenues and profits barely rose due to intense competition and price pressure.
Nokia Chief Executive Jorma Ollila said this week that sales of the device had been slow, but its success should not be measured before the Christmas season of 2005, when upgraded versions taking advantage of the latest technology should prove its worth.
Riccitiello said Nokia was one of the best design engineering companies he knew, and he had no doubt that Nokia would eventually succeed in the gaming category. "Nokia will figure it out," he said. "It's just that they haven't figured it out yet."
Check it here
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andrew99
Joined: Nov 29, 2001
Posts: 254
From: london
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yeah, saw that post first and linked it here http://www.esato.com/board/viewtopic.php?topic=52711
but even the ea guy admits, nokia haven't given up. | |
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Access the forum with a mobile phone via esato.mobi
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Posted: 2004-03-09 13:59
