Apple gaining ground on Nintendo in handheld market

The popularity of Apple's platforms for gaming is on the rise, with new survey data suggesting it has become a serious competitor for incumbent leader Nintendo.

The survey, Newzoo's International Gamer's Survey 2010 shows that Apple's platforms have attracted 40.1 million of the 77 million Americans playing games on mobile consoles.

41 million play games on Nintendo DS and DSi, and 18.0 million on the PSP.

So there's some overlap in game playing consumers - for example, 14 million of Nintendo DS/DSi gamers (34 per cent) also play games on an iPod Touch and vice versa.

However, there is a silver lining for Sony and Nintendo: the DS/DSi and PSP consoles lead over Apple’s devices with 53 per cent (DS/DSi) and 59 per cent (PSP) of payers spending more than $US10 a month compared to 38 per cent for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Interestingly, the iPad boasts the highest percentage: 72 per cent - perhaps because people are still splurging on their new toy.

And, furthermore, the data suggests that Apple is faring far less well in the gaming markets of various European nations.

With Apple recently announcing some new enhancements to iTunes to attract more gamers to the iOS fold, it will be interesting to see where Apple devices fit into the gaming scene long-term.