Nintendo recently suffered its first drop in annual profit in six years.
So what's next for Nintendo?
According to the Times Online, Nintendo is "ready to go to war" -- not against competitors Microsoft and Sony, which Nintendo feels it has already licked, but against Apple.
Nintendo is "preparing to unleash the full force of its development and marketing artillery against Apple," reports the Times Online.
The Times adds, "Satoru Iwata, the Nintendo president, is understood to have told his senior executives recently to regard the battle with Sony as a victory already won and to treat Apple, and its iPhone and iPad devices, as the �enemy of the future�."
Just two months ago, Nintendo said that they weren't worried about Apple and shrugged off concerns about the increasing prevalence of Apple's iPod and iPhone, employed by users as mobile gaming devices, with explanations that they "know the game business, and appeal to a wide range of players, including the elderly, and both men and women."
Yet some, such as TUAW, predict it may be "only a matter of time before the iPhone, iPod, and iPad catch up to or even surpass the capabilities of Nintendo's offerings unless Nintendo introduces new hardware, and soon."
Nintendo's net profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 was down 18 percent to $2.5 billion, with sales dropping 22 percent to around $15.4 billion.
How will Nintendo fight back? Mashable investigates the potential outcome of a Nintendo phone as one alternative. What direction do you think the company should take? Is Apple really a threat? Tell us in the comments section below.
Read the full story at the Times Online.