Iwata Elaborates On Smart Device Plans, Says Nintendo Is “Determined” For Challenge

Nintendo’s CEO Satoru Iwata has elaborated on the company’s initial plans to create greater ties with consumers through smart devices in a question and answer session with investors. The president says that the main goal is not to generate a profit, in the short-term at least, but to establish greater consumer awareness for Nintendo’s products.

However, Iwata also said that the smart device app could not feature solely as an advertising platform, so in order to keep consumers returning, Nintendo would provide other ways in which to entertain the market. But with an extremely competitive market, Iwata remarked that establishing such ties would be a great challenge, though it is one the company is determined to face head-on.

“The goal of our application on smart devices is not to generate profit, at least in the short-term. The biggest point is to create consumer awareness and use that opportunity to have consumers know more about our information.

“The key aspect is that Nintendo would like to establish a firm channel on smart devices through which we can connect with consumers. This channel will enable not only us but also third-party publishers to communicate all the fun content on Nintendo platforms to consumers. However, we cannot expect consumers to activate our application every day if we only establish a channel that is solely dedicated to advertising. We would have to make efforts to provide a channel for consumers that makes them entertained, pleased and happy in order to have them use our application frequently.

“The application market for smart devices is already extremely competitive, so it is generally very difficult to have consumers activate a single application on a continual basis. Perhaps it would not be too difficult to simply have people download our application and have them try it just once, but ensuring continued engagement is going to be challenging. We are determined to take on this challenge, fully understanding the situation in which we are going to place ourselves. Once we have established such an environment, however, we will be able to dramatically change the relationship between Nintendo and consumers.”