Apparently Apple and Nintendo are not competitors as they appeal to different customers, well that’s the view of Nintendo president, Satoru Iwata, who just happens to own an iPhone and MacBook, and any mention of Apple being a Nintendo competitor makes him uncomfortable according to the WSJ.

Nintendo dominates the video game arena but there is an ever increasing risk from the iPhone as a game player, and Apple has basically made it quite clear that they intend to encroach on Nintendo’s territory.

Back in September at a media event, Apple’s head of marketing, Phil Schiller stated that dedicated gaming devices such as the Nintendo DS and Sony’s PlayStation Portable were cool at first but now just “don’t stack up” against the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Nintendo is to release a new version of their DS this month and has already survived several challenges from other devices such as the Nokia N-Gage and the Sega Game Gear, but Nintendo isn’t immune to competition from the mobile phone and mobile games along with an industry wide slump.

Nintendo’s profits are down 52 percent in the first half of the year while the iPhone continues to sell in record numbers and 100,000 applications of which a good number were games, so maybe Iwata shouldn’t feel “uncomfortable” when someone mentions the iPhone as a competitor and maybe realise that it is.