Apple may very well beef up AppleTV and market the gaming angle of the device a lot more than they currently are, but given their history with Pippin I think your claim they will pitch a new dedicated game console type device is unlikely in the extreme.
Although I agree with your conclusion, the Apple Newton didn't prevent the creation of the iPad. That would have been a little silly—both Apple and the world are so different now.
I am also very interested in what they do with Mac Pro.
The Apple TV 4K already costs $180/$200 without a controller, which could easily set you back an additional $60. Combined, that's more than half the price of a disc-less PS5, and very close to the cost of a Nintendo Switch.
The Nintendo Switch is pretty deceptive in its pricing. You buy it and quickly realise that you need to spend a lot more money.
Internal storage is limited, so you need an SD card at least.
Then if you plan on carrying it around, a screen protector is pretty much a requirement. And if you are planning on carrying it around, you'll also want a case for it.
And if you don't plan on carrying it around and are only docking it, you probably want a Pro Controller since the included ones are not really that good for couch play.
And after you've accessorised yourself, you're now stuck with the most expensive game library, with first-party titles pretty much never dropping in price. Want to buy a first-party launch title for the Nintendo Switch? That'll be $50-60 for Breath of the Wild. Meanwhile Horizon Zero Dawn, which is an acclaimed first-party title pretty much the same age as BotW, is available for $20 or less. Even cross-platform games might be more expensive on the Switch due to the cartridge costs.
I also think the JoyCon grips are fine for TV play (In fact I prefer them over the pro controller) and while I'd also recommend a screen protector, I don't know anyone else who has one IRL. The types of scratches picked up by the Switch are usually only visible in direct light, and a lot of people seem to not care.
That first-party Nintendo games don't go drop in price like most games has been a truism for a very long time. I'm not sure how Nintendo does it. I generally respect them for it—whatever the proper cost of games should be, I don't think it's healthy for games as a medium that they loose a third of their value in a few months.
Well, sure, if you're only buying physical. However, that's not really something you can expect in these days. The Switch has 26 GB of usable storage. That's not a lot considering Breath of the Wild is over 13 GB.
The Xbox One and PS4 come with at least 500 GB. Even if you account for the fact that the download sizes there are larger, there's still much more space proportionally, so you're going to be spending more money to get the full experience on a Switch.
>I also think the JoyCon grips are fine for TV play
It's pretty much the worst controller out there. Not only is it incredibly uncomfortable, it's rather unreliable. The drift issue on the Joy-cons is pretty noted. And once again coming to the controller price issue, the Pro Controller is $70, Joy-cons are $80, where as the Xbox and PlayStation ones are $60, and there's much less of a need to get one since there's one in the box for you already.
>while I'd also recommend a screen protector, I don't know anyone else who has one IRL
I don't know if there are any people who haven't actually gotten screen protectors, especially since it was reported that sliding the device in and out of the dock may incur scratches on the screen. When one of the basic features of the devices can result in scratches, you really want one.
>whatever the proper cost of games should be, I don't think it's healthy for games as a medium that they loose a third of their value in a few months
I'm not exactly sure if it's healthy for old games to retain their value better than stocks. I don't think it's good for consumers if they're still going to be paying brand new game price for BotW couple of years later when it's a five-year-old game.
Really, speaking from experience, I have a PS4 and a Switch. For the PS4, the only accessory that I've had to buy was a charging dock, and I don't really consider it an essential one. I could charge with a cable just fine, but the dock is just a bit nicer and looks a bit better. For the Switch however, I've had to buy an SD card, case, screen protector and a Pro Controller, all of which I consider pretty necessary to get the full experience.