Apple trademarks handheld games devices, advertises for developers

Wheels in motion for a move into gaming?

11 February 2008 12:09 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

Some news out of Santa Clara Valley this weekend is raising eyebrows in the consumer electronics world. It seems Apple might well be planning a move into the world of handheld games consoles.

Website Trademork has revealed a recent Apple trademark application that covers pretty much all fronts on the small console side of things.

The application covers Apple for "hand-held units for playing electronic games; hand-held units for playing video games; stand alone video game machines; electronic games other than those adapted for use with television receivers only; LCD game machines; electronic educational game machines; toys, namely battery-powered computer games".

Making this more of a story than might warrant from patent-happy Apple is the news from 9to5Mac that the company is currently advertising for a "Games Producer/Developer".

The wanted ad reads: "This is a hands-on game-development position, spanning the entire game development cycle. The position offers the opportunity of owning the game design process and the responsibility of bringing those designs to successful fruition in the marketplace".