As controversial as comparing Nintendo to the fall of France to the Wehrmacht in 1940 might have seemed, comments by Reggie Fils-Aime suggest one component rings true: stubbornness.

Speaking to AOL's Games Blog, the Nintendo of America president and COO was pushed for his take on suggestions the rise of the smartphone is having a major impact on the firm's handheld business.

Specifically, Fils-Aime was asked what he made of Flurry's recent report, which suggests DS software now only accounts for 36 percent of all software sales in the US, down from 70 percent in 2009.

Rather than tackle the issue, however, the Nintendo man chose instead to undermine the research itself.

Flurry fuss

"First, I haven't seen the study, and Flurry is a company that consults app developers," Fils-Aime said of the report.

"So, as we look at our range of companies where we trust their data, and they have a methodology that makes sense--I just can't speak to the data.

"And I can't speak to the motivations of the company, as they are not a pure research firm."

When pushed as to whether Nintendo would ever consider making mobile games – as some investors in the company have called for – Fils-Aime said it's not a possibility.

Eroding the ethos

In essence, Fils-Aime believes working on foreign hardware would undermine the whole ethos that drives success at Nintendo – a company focused on pushing its own devices as far as thy can go.

"The concept of having our core franchises on other systems really flies in the face of what we believe in, and that's because, by understanding the hardware, that's how we're able to bring these great experiences forward," he concluded.

Fils-Aime's comments come after Flurry's VP of marketing Peter Farago exclusively told us Nintendo needs to alter its current approach in order to fight of the smartphone advance, citing hardware pricing, third party support and digital distribution as the three key areas where the company should look to up its game.

"Getting the first few key games made is not the hard part - the hard part is building a gaming platform and business ecosystem that naturally creates incentives for third party developers to participate," said Farago.

"The iOS and Android software distribution models have this nailed. This is where Sony and Nintendo need to adapt, or they will face having a wildly cyclical and potentially shrinking business on their hands."

[source: Games.com]