iMac, iPod, iStation?

We all know that the gaming industry is big business. We also know it's sink or swim on success or failure. The following is purely speculation of course but this would be a very interesting theory.

It seems that Sony has not been having a good holiday season with an install base of just under 50% of consoles shipped to the U.S. Yes, they have sold them to stores, but the stores still have them on the shelves. Not only that but we have not seen any new, and recent titles out. New titles now have either been pushed back or scrapped.

Now with those numbers in your head, Sony is preparing for their European launch in March. Sony has to literally be hedging their bets on the new system that people do not seem to want. They're hoping that titles like "Resistance", which is their strongest seller at the moment, "Motorstorm", and "Lair" will lure the gamer in. But for how long will someone wait. If Sony keeps pushing titles back, we'll still be playing "Resistance" well into April or May until we see something new.

So the rumor mill begins. What if things do not go as planned? Sony may be looking at cutting the fat, as in their Playstation division. Once again this is STRICTLY theory. Where there is a lady, there are suitors waiting for courtship. Here are some possible suitors to be, and they both make operating systems. Now before you go screaming to Redmond, don't overlook Cupertino.

Instead of saying yeah it's Microsoft, lets take a peek at Apple. Their computers are starting to grow in market place share. The iPod has dominance in the portable music market. The iTunes store has thus far sold over 1.5 Billion songs, movies, TV shows, and music videos. And late last year Apple had been hiring gaming programmers, which of course created games for their 5th generation iPod which displays video. They have retail stores all over the world, multiple stores in major cities. They also have created a relationship with Electronic Arts, a major player in the gaming industry.

So....they have the technology, the programmers, partnerships, and market share. They could easily take this off of Sony's hands should this theory comes to fruition. Now lets head north to Redmond.

OK, the 360 is the dominant player alongside the Wii right now, with titles such as "Gears of War" which has sold more than 3 million copies, an online community infrastructure that REALLY works good, and a fan base all over the world, plus they were the first next gen system to come out. In my personal opinion I don't think Microsoft would take on another gaming system unless they were going to discontinue it or do something really big with it. I would happen to guess that if they took the Playstation there might be an anti-trust because holding two major brands would conflict no?

So there are the rumors, speculations, breakdowns, and predictions. Personally I hope this is not true and just that, a rumor. If things did go south I would hope Apple would take the reigns.