Is Apple’s New Tablet a Game Changer?

Lately Apple has dominated any market outside of PCs the company has chosen to enter. It wasn’t always so; I still remember the Newton and the shellacking it took in public opinion. (Even the political cartoon strip “Doonesbury” made fun of it.) But those days are all behind the company, and the iPod and iPhone dominate their segments. The markets for Apple software have become just as important, with 99 cent songs and varied-priced apps.

Next up is the Tablet, a new computer that has Apple fans salivating. Plenty of programmers have been willing to devote time to developing games for the iPhone, so it’s probable that games will continue to roll out for the Tablet, especially considering Apple’s lucrative revenue sharing system.

Apple will be interested in exploiting the educational market, for the respect dominance there lends as much as the lucre. One of my favorite reporters, Yukari Iwatani Kane, co-wrote an article this week in The Wall Street Journal about the Apple Tablet, which touched on the academic aspects of the product:

In the academic arena, Apple could face hurdles wooing universities if the tablet doesn’t meet their needs or isn’t compatible with other computing devices that students are using.

Amazon had been hoping to target the market with its 9.7-inch screen Kindle DX e-book reader, for example, but schools said the device wasn’t sufficiently interactive and lacked basics such as page numbers and color graphics.

Another hurdle facing any new technology at the university level is the need for accessibility features to be built into the product. After pressure from the Dept. of Justice, several universities agreed to stop promoting the use of the Kindle DX for students, or any other e-book reader, until features making it more accessible for the visually impaired have been implemented.

As always, it would be very nice to see good educational programs and games come out for the Apple Tablet, and not merely repackaging of classic texts or some such. Stay tuned.

References:
Gonsalves, A. (2010, January 14). Universities agree not to promote Kindle DX. InformationWeek. [Online.] Available: http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/government/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=222300989

Kane, Y.I., & Smith, E. (2010, January 23). Apple sees new money in old media. The Wall Street Journal, B1.

PSP Mini-nets Show Small Group Potential

Here’s an interesting story from The Wall Street Journal about the growing popularity of the Sony PSP in Japan thanks largely to the Capcom game Monster Hunter. A key feature of the game is its social aspect, primarily engaged using the mini-network features built into the PSP. Groups of friends can gather in one location and play together while keeping others out.

Among Monster Hunter’s fans is Hitoshi Morita, a 37-year-old Tokyo-area architect, who recently went on a weekend retreat devoted to the game. Dividing into groups, Mr. Morita and 14 friends, who included a doctor and a few corporate executives, played the game for several hours at a time.

“It was an opportunity for us to forget our professional titles and social standings and play with each other like when we were kids,” says Mr. Morita, who is already planning another Monster Hunter retreat in September. “I’m not crazy about games, but I love Monster Hunter because of the social aspect.”

Reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane notes the two games in the Monster Hunter series are the best selling PSP titles in Japan, with over 4 million sold. The teamwork aspect of the game has overcome Japanese disinclinations toward social networking thanks to the exclusive capabilities of the PSP mini-nets, according to Kane.

Osaka-based Capcom, better known outside Japan for titles like Street Fighter and Devil May Cry, launched Monster Hunter as an online multiplayer game for Sony’s PlayStation 2 console four years ago. Sales weren’t huge. Many consumers shied away from the game, which was best played with other PS2 users over an online network.

But Ryozo Tsujimoto, the producer of the portable Monster Hunter games, saw a big opportunity for a PSP version because the device could be carried around easily, so gamers could introduce the game to friends. Sales figures soon showed he was on to something.

The possibilities of harnessing the mini-net features of the PSP are striking. Small groups could be set up with the PSP to tackle a project together in an educational game. Excluding other players from the groups would allow a room full of students working on PSPs to organize into teams working on objectives within the game.

References:
Kane, Y. I. (2008, June 24). Game device belatedly clicks. The Wall Street Journal, p.B1. [Online]. Available: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121426677949598525.html