Nintendo boss calls Apple 'the enemy of the future'

After experiencing its first drop in profits in six years, Nintendo is gearing up to turn its business around and sees Apple as a primary new competitor on the horizon.

According to a report published by the UK Times, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata reportedly told senior executives that the company has already won its war with Sony and that Apple was now its "enemy of the future."

Nintendo's confidence about have vanquished Sony is supported by the fact that its Wii outsold the PlayStation 3 by nearly double over the last holiday season, but Wii sales have also been falling off. In the first quarter, Nintendo reported sales down 21% from the year ago quarter.

Similarly, while Nintendo's DS remains the best selling handheld games machine, its position is now being encroached upon by Apple's iPhone and iPod touch platform.

Nintendo has recently focused its attention on broadening the market for video games outside of youths and dedicated male gamers. It famously and successfully positioned the Wii as a game console for entire families, girls, and older people.

However, Nintendo's expanded gamer demographics of high school girls and men 30-40 now say they'd rather have an iPhone than carry a DS, according to the report.

The relatively high prices of traditional console games also took a beating during the economic downturn, shifting the attention of many gamers toward Apple's iTunes App Store, where there are thousands of free games and most paid titles are less than $10.