Satoru Iwata recently talked to the Financial Times about how he likes Amazon’s WhisperNet 3G service for the Kindle.  The cost for the service is built in to the up-front cost of the device and doesn’t require recurring monthly fees, a fact that Nintendo’s head exec appreciates:

“I’m interested because it’s a new business model in which the user doesn’t bear the communications cost,” he told the Financial Times.  “Only people who can pay thousands of yen a month [in mobile phone subscriptions] can be iPhone customers. That doesn’t fit Nintendo customers because we make amusement products, In reality, if we did this it would increase the cost of the hardware, and customers would complain about Nintendo putting prices up, but it is one option for the future.”

As mentioned here, Nintendo wouldn’t do this unless it didn’t add too much more to the overall cost of the system.  I like the idea a lot because games could be played anywhere you get 3G coverage, which in a couple years should be available in most places.  What do you guys think?

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