Nintendo's Satoru Iwata recognises the iPhone, and finds it attractive

Speaking during Nintendo's financial results briefing, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has - rather surprisingly - finally acknowledged that the iPhone exists in the handheld gaming market, and that he finds it to be quite an attractive device.

"People often said that Nintendo and Apple share much in common and I've often been asked how I feel about Apple products because I myself have been using Apple products," Iwata says.

But he's still not comfortable with the idea that the DS/DSi and iPhone/iPod touch are in competition.

"Quite recently, media have been reporting that iPhone is a rival to Nintendo DS, but I do not strongly agree mainly because of the difference in the customers," he continues.

"For the customers with whom we have the most strength, it must be rather difficult for Apple to reach, and for the customer base where Apple has the biggest strength, Nintendo products would have a hard time in receiving their appreciations."

While he does make a good point that the device's demographics do have an age shift in them, the question as to which platform a new customer would find most appealing isn't really addressed.

But it's actually very reassuring to hear Nintendo finally acknowledge that it's sharing the handheld market - whether in direct competition or not - as the kind of corporate arrogance it's demonstrated previously is never a good sign for the consumer.

Perhaps the best solution is for Nintendo to bring some of its games to the App Store, and take advantage of both devices?

But which Nintendo games would you most like to see on the iPhone, should this utopian world of united gaming ever come to be?