Iwata: Nintendo will rule the handheld market

Nintendo has proclaimed itself the undisputed winner in the handheld race. And for now, no one can contest the claim.

In a presentation yesterday at the Tokyo headquarters of the Foreign Correspondents Club, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reportedly said, "Both in the US and Japan, our supply cannot catch up with demand." Earlier today, Nintendo announced plans to increase shipments of the DS to North America by 40 percent. "We're running short on stock," he told attendees.

Commenting on the DS's unique selling point, one he summed up as "easy to play and fun to play," Iwata distanced his company's solution from Sony's. "The old formula for success--the combination of high-specification game consoles and advanced graphics--is no longer working," he said. "We now need to create a new proposal for our customers to set a new course for the industry. The launch of the Nintendo DS is our answer to such challenge."

Addressing the PSP directly, Iwata said, "I believe the PSP is built on the belief that the old formula for success is still viable, although we do not think so. ... Although we have no intention of fighting over the market share with Sony, we will make our utmost efforts to help people understand that our approach is right."

The strong language from Nintendo comes just days before the launch of the competition's entry into the handheld space. The PSP goes on sale in Japan on December 12.

Staying closer to the facts, Iwata also updated sales numbers for the handheld, saying, "In the US, sales have already hit 1 million units." Commenting on those sales, he said, "To meet strong demand, we will ship 2.8 million Nintendo DS consoles by the end of December, about 800,000 units higher than we had initially targeted."

Additionally, Iwata made brief mention regarding Nintendo's plans to enter the Chinese market, but wasn't clear on whether he specifically meant with the DS. "We are moving in some new directions [toward the China market]," he said. "But it will be a while before we can talk more about it."

To what extent the DS can maintain its first-to-market advantage, however, remains to be seen. The PSP launch, just days away, will put Iwata's fighting words to the test.