OK, let me point out that the Nintendo DS has a web browser, Wi-Fi connectivity, and actually works as a gaming device.

I think the DS would be more likely to be successful adding calling features (like the PSP has with full-on Skype support) than an iPhone would be adding real tactile gaming controls and becoming a legitimate platform.

I get it - I get it - people want the iPhone to be the magical "one device". But I'll tell you what - Nintendo has never lost a handheld generation (Lynx, Game Gear, and PSP to date) and they don't look like they're going to any time soon.

I agree. Anyone who thinks a touchscreen-only device can replace tactile buttons on a gaming device is on crack. Although, the DS doesn't have a web browser built in except on the newer DSi, which is currently only available in Japan, and all web browsers on the DS/DSi have generally sucked for anything beyond text-only browsing. The homebrew browsers are actually somewhat better than commercial ones, although I don't have a DSi yet but from what I've seen the DSi's browser is still pretty slow. I wouldn't compare DS web browsing to the iPhone, but then I wouldn't compare iPhone gaming to the DS/PSP.

The biggest factor for me is the games, though, and only a Nintendo platform will ever have Nintendo games (industry trolls that keep calling for Nintendo to become a third-party developer notwithstanding). Nintendo is definitely one of the top game development houses out there, and Apple doesn't really have anything that can compete. Nintendo understands games, Apple does not.

While the lack of tactile controls is a big downside to the iPhone as a gaming device, there are plenty of games that are playable without, and for very casual gaming for short periods of time even the ones faking controls on the touchscreen can pull it off.

I don't think the iPhone could ever dethrone the PSP or NDS, but I think if one already owned an iPhone that they'd probably ignore the other gaming devices unless there was a specific game one wanted to play. I fall into that category (as well as the significant other who likes to steal my phone), and I definitely haven't looked twice at any gaming specific devices because I can get everything I want on my phone most of the time. I only pack the NDS on trips involving kids I don't trust with my iPhone :)

This is beyond ludicrous. Buttons and joypads can't simply be plastered onto the touch screen; controls have to be tactile or else you will make mistakes. When I misspell a word typing I can just go back and erase. When the game mistakes which button I press and my character dies, I get frustrated and pissed off.

I get frustrated and pissed off even when I mispell a word typing on the iPhone.

I'm not so sure... how many children own an iphone, or are likely to own one in the coming year? I'd wager it would be a small fraction of the number of DS/PSP owners.

Wishful thinking at its finest. I get that iphones are popular, they're just not _that_ popular.

Monkey ball arrived and all have mimicked since.