Nintendo is the Apple of Asia

Hi, this is Vlad in Hong Kong. Nintendo is doing Nintendo things again. But first…Today’s must-reads:• Microsoft will invest $10 billion in [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Hi, this is Vlad in Hong Kong. Nintendo is doing Nintendo things again. But first… Today’s must-reads: • [Microsoft will invest $10 billion in the maker of ChatGPT]( • [Google staff cuts avoided “much worse” issues]( • [Germany opened an antitrust investigation into PayPal]( Brand and software Apple Inc. and Nintendo Co. are two of the technology world’s biggest names, each built on idiosyncratic ways of doing business. Although their market values are separated by about $2 trillion, they are perhaps the industry’s closest ideological peers. I was reminded of this last week when Bloomberg broke news of Nintendo’s plan to [hike production]( of its six-year-old Switch console. At this point in the system’s life cycle, any other hardware maker would be getting ready to start talking about its next product. Nintendo is convinced it can sell more of the old one. Apple and Nintendo move to their own rhythm. I thought the AirPods looked stupid when they were first announced. Likewise, the Switch underwhelmed me at first with its lack of commitment to either portable or home console play. But both proved my initial judgment wrong with the quality of how they worked. Stubbornness can sometimes go against them. When every other smartphone maker rushed to bigger screens, Apple took years to adapt. Nintendo’s first attempt at fusing a home console and handheld, the Wii U, was ill-conceived and failed spectacularly. But for much of the last four decades, these two companies have transcended the commodified nature of personal electronics and generate outsized profits for the hardware they put in people’s hands. The two keys I see to this are software and the power of a strong brand. An iPhone without iOS is just a shiny glass-and-steel sandwich. A Switch without Nintendo’s storied franchises like Animal Crossing, the Legend of Zelda, Super Mario Bros. is — well, look at the frumpy thing and its bezels from 2010. Apple and Nintendo are also extremely protective of their family-friendly reputations. Apple would rather be seen as prudish than permissive when it makes decisions about content on its app store or data tracking requests, while Nintendo traditionally limited violence in its games to Mario Kart collisions and Smash Bros. punches. Another analog between the American and Japanese giants: devoted customers who will buy the new thing no matter how incremental the upgrade and, moreover, feel deep satisfaction about it. Apple used to sell S editions of iPhones that made it obvious when the company didn’t have a new design ready — and people flocked to them anyhow. Nintendo puts out game-themed Switch consoles that, likewise, draw committed fans to buy new hardware with the same old specs. A lot of people trust those two hallowed attributes: the brand and the software. Nintendo fans are confident that this year’s Zelda sequel will be breathtaking, just like iPhone customers believe they’ll have access to the best apps (still a fact, and I say this as a dedicated Google Pixel user). So now that Nintendo enters 2023 with higher expectations for the Switch than just about anyone else, it’s worth reconsidering our preconceptions about aging game consoles. Because the Switch is Asia’s iPhone — and possibly subject to its own set of rules. —[Vlad Savov](mailto:vsavov5@bloomberg.net) The big story Apple’s much-anticipated mixed-reality headset, priced at some $3,000, [represents a high-stakes gambit for the company]( as it vies for AR-VR dominance over Meta Platforms. Get fully charged Vegan diets and illegal enzymes are just a few of the [strange Covid treatments circulating on Chinese social media](, as unproven treatments gain credence among citizens grown distrustful of the government line. The US Supreme Court is seeking input from the Biden administration on Florida and Texas laws that would [sharply curtail the editorial discretion of largest social media platforms](. The soaring popularity of ChatGPT is causing Wall Street to [bet big on chipmaker Nvidia](, which dominates the market for graphic chips needed to power AI tools. Amazon Air is launching air freight services in India, [defying slowdowns and cost-cutting in other countries]( amid a grim economic outlook. Follow Us More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more, every Sunday - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business, delivered on Friday - [Cyber Bulletin]( for exclusive coverage on the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage, sent every Wednesday Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](