Some gamers may not consider Apple's iPhone and iPod touch platform a viable video game device, but the company's CEO sure does, calling it "the number one portable game player" on the market, just before introducing the iPod's latest iteration.
CEO Steve Jobs claims the Apple device has "50%+ the marketshare for portable game players in the U.S. and worldwide," touting 1.5 billion downloads of games and entertainment titles for the device via iTunes.
"The iPod touch outsells Nintendo and Sony's portable game players combined," Jobs boasted. "It's been amazing."
iPods with game playing capabilities still have a way to go before they outsell the PSP and Nintendo DS on a lifetime sales basis, however. Jobs says the company has sold more than 275 million iPods, with 120 million of those being iOS devices. Nintendo reports it has sold more than 132 million units of its Nintendo DS since launch with Sony claiming to have sold more than 60 million PSPs over its lifetime.
Jobs unveiled the latest and thinnest version of the iPod touch at an Apple event in San Francisco today. The new iPod touch features many of the improvements and additions originally found in the iPhone 4, including a higher resolution display, a new Apple A4 processor and HD video recording.
It's expected to ship next week with Apple's new Game Center software.