If Microsoft can enter the console market and do alright then surely any electronics company can do the same. Right? Well, that seems to be the reasoning of the mobile communication giants, Nokia and Ericsson, who've announced that they're branching out into the games market with new games-capatible mobile phones.

Who couldn't see it coming to be honest, games on mobiles like "Snake" have been quite popular and a big reason for sales of newer phones rather than older ones (a la my phone :) ). And with phone companies branching out with "camera phones" and WAP phones, while experimenting with new ideas. Mobile phones are becoming less and less about "phones", but about general mainstream entertainment devices. Kinda like the console industry in fact.

So, how do these new competitors compare to eachother? Let's get the facts out:

First, Ericssons "Red Jade" (what a crap name):
-64-bit CPU
-3D polygon graphics
-Multi-channel PCM Sounds
-TFT LCD display, 65536 colors
-Mobile phone rechargeable battery
-Blue Tooth technology enable wireless communication between 2 or more machines
-Download game titles from secured game servers
-Retail price will be less than US$100 (around �63)

Now, Nokias "N-Gage", of which we weren't given too much details. We do know, however, that:
-Multiplayer will be an option with Bluetooth, and also wide-area mobile networks.
-The games will be available on memory cards
-Nokia states it wants to be a game publisher.
-Sega apparently is already on board but no games have been announced.
-It's design is similar to that of the GBA, with a LCD screen in the middle and a D-pad and action buttons.
-Nokia hope to launch the phone at around Febraury 2003, presumably in America for then.

The big hurdle facing these companis is convincing the top games companies that their mobiles are good, reliable platforms for their games. I suspect very little publishers will be convinced this early but if the phones kick of then we could be seeing games from EA, Activision, Sega and the like on them.

The Blue Tooth technology in them is quite promising. For those of you who don't know, Bluetooth is the new technology which allows devices to link up without cumbersome cables connecting them. The idea is making waves in the computer industry but hasn't been implemented fully yet. I wonder if the technology will be developed enough for these phones. If it is then you wouldn't need any link-up cables for multiplayer games. But would enough people have the phone for developers to spend the time actually putting in a multiplayer mode? I don't think so.

Wonderswan. Neo Geo. And now N-Gage and Red Jade. We'll know a lot more about the two new handhelds as time goes on but right now I think it's pretty safe to assume that the GBAs position as the ruler of the handheld market isn't under too much threat. "Game Boy" is just synonamous with handheld supremecy. Publishers trust the system because of its success and developers are able to do great things on it, there's already a huge library of games on it with killers like Mario Kart, Advance Wars, Golden Sun and the Mario games. And gems like Metroid Fusion and Zelda: Four Swords are on their way. And lets not forget the "GBA 2" that's coming.

Everyone who has tried to dethrone the Game Boy has failed. And baring some God-like help, Nokia and Ericsson will fail too. The only people I can see buying the Red Jade or N-Gage are people who always want the newest mobile and so will jump at the chance of having one of the new games-mobiles. I don't expect too many people will be picking an N-Gage or Red Jade over a GBA, and for that reason alone Nintendo needn't be too worried. The GBA won't be losing its crown anytime soon.