Nintendo, Sony Are Only Two Survivors in Handheld Game Market Reports In-Stat.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- In the past year, the Nokia N-Gage, Tapwave Zodiac, and Gizmondo have all been taken off the market, leaving only two competitors in the handheld game platform space: Nintendo and Sony. In the current generation of handheld consoles, the Nintendo DS will outship the Sony PSP over the life of the consoles, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com).

"Nintendo followed up successful Japanese and North American launches of its DS product in late 2004 with a successful introduction in Europe in the first quarter of 2005," says Brian O'Rourke, In-Stat analyst. "The DS's two screens have proven popular, and have opened up the handheld market to new types of game play, as well as new demographic groups."

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

--While the PSP outshipped the DS in 2005, the DS has turned the tables in 2006, spurred by very strong sales in Japan. Sony will likely respond with a price cut in all major regions by the fourth quarter of 2006.

--While the DS is a more traditional game console, Sony's PSP aims to be a portable multimedia convergence device that primarily plays games, but also offers web browsing and a digital audio player.

--Sales of the Nintendo GameBoy, Nintendo's cornerstone franchise since its 1988 launch, have slowed considerably since the launch of the DS. The last GameBoys will ship in 2007.

The research, "Handheld Game Platforms 2006: And Then There Were Two" (#IN0603162ID), covers the global market for handheld video game consoles. It contains shipment and revenue forecasts, broken down by region, for both Nintendo's and Sony's handheld game platforms through 2010. It also contains results of In-Stat's 2006 US Residential Technology Survey pertaining to handheld video games, as well as results from a separate 2006 web-based survey on handheld console ownership and purchase plans. Analysis of vendors' console and online marketing strategies are also provided.

For more information on this research, please visit: http://www.instat.com/catalog/Ccatalogue.asp?id=27. The price is $2,495 (US).

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