Apple iOS 7 also allows external gamepads to this it an opportunity for nintendo as well to put out some nice gamepads and maybe other interesting motion controls.
Apple also recently bought PrimeSense and the Apple TV console is still on the way. It could be a perfect storm if that launches with Mario and Zelda.
It would be interesting, thats for sure.
I could possibly see the argument for locking them up as an iOS exclusive -- but Apple doesn't need to buy the cow, so to speak, to get that milk.
That seems exceedingly unlikely without Apple doing something equivalent to a takeover. Nintendo does not release its games outside of its platforms. Nintendo wants the 3DS to be your mobile gaming platform, not iOS.
Nintendo, being a hardware company like Apple, would much rather you buy its games on 3DS (or whatever future system) than on iOS devices. But it may not have that choice indefinitely. Its hardware sales (Wii U and 3DS) have been in freefall. Its software is the one bright spot in its portfolio right now. Its overall financial health is tenuous.
Regardless, I don't really have a position on whether or not Nintendo should make iOS games. I'm addressing the "Should Apple buy Nintendo?" argument, to which my position is "Why?" Absent some sort of fire-sale opportunity to scoop up Nintendo if/when it approaches collapse, or to buy it on the cheap in a defensive move against Android, I don't see the pressing need.
Killer argument. Apple doesn't need to buy Nintendo. Nintendo needs to choose to do just what Apple would make 'em do anyway: create/port games for iOS. If Nintendo goes there either way, they win ... and Apple gets 30% with zero effort.
Why?
ETA: iOS is arguably the biggest/most-popular gaming platform ever. The increase in sales from "I would have bought an Android/whatever but didn't because game X is only on iOS so I bought an iPhone instead" would be, relatively speaking, vanishingly small.
Ben Thompson does a better job explaining the why than I do: http://stratechery.com/2013/casual-gaming-is-a-sustainable-b... but the tl;dr is basically that the casual games most people look for on iOS are either already on or easily portable to Android or Windows. If Apple wants people to buy iOS devices to play games (and they should; that's a lot of people!), they need to make sure there are good games on iOS that people can't find anywhere else; otherwise, people will buy cheaper Android/Kindle/nook devices instead.
http://hypercritical.co/2013/09/02/nintendo-in-crisis
discussing the Apple/Nintendo relationship
At the moment. Apple's collective online stores have been generating more and more revenue. It would not be surprising if Apple expands it's own software production beyond it's professional tools and iWorks.
But I agree with your first sentiment. What prompted this article in the first place?
There's enough games available to make iOS a leading gaming platform, with no need for Apple to jump in. Apple does as little software production as possible, done only to sell more hardware when necessary. Prime apps like Remote and Apple Store are obvious focus, yet Apple has been amazingly negligent; Apple really has very few application developers and has little interest in expanding their number.
The other question that isn't asked - "Why would Nintendo allow themselves to be bought by Apple?"
Next, it keeps comparing the non-sequitur of Apple buying Nintendo with the absolutely unique Apple purchase of NeXT, which was unlike any conceivable purchase because it amounted to Jobs taking a sabbatical to, having experienced creating Apple, see what he could do with a complete ground-up reboot of the process, and then folding that work back into Apple as a means to better advance the company without the consternation of wrenching the original company in that direction before figuring out where the target was. It amounted to branching the vision, doing independent work, then merging that branch back into the mainline.
Apple should not buy Maker's Mark either. Purchasing a flash storage fabrication facility was a much better decision.