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thansen on 23 September 2009
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Untamoi said:
thansen said:

 

I wont argue that the iphone/ipod touch is better gaming platform than the PSP or DS.  However, if you don't think it is a serious contender in the mobile gaming market, your simply in denial.  There are 37 million of these things out there already, and apple is currently selling them at a rate of  7 million per quarter.    VGChartz does not currently track the iphone hardware but it probably should.

There is more development being done for the iphone platform than all other mobile platforms combined.   Anyone can download the SDK for the iphone.   For $100 you can become a licenesed develper, and Apple will distribute you apps.   This has created the monstrous numbers of apps available for the iphone.  I will freely admit a lot of it is crap, but when there is that many develepors there will be some interesting apps. 

 

My current perspective:  The iphone is the Wii of the mobile platforms.  It has come out of nowhere.  Its success is completely unexpected.  It is finding a new audience of casual gamers.  It will probably domminate the casual gaming market.

The only problem is that most people don't buy iPhone/iPod touch for gaming. Probably around 90% of the owners of them (just a guess) never buy even a single game for iPhone. People buying games for iPhone are the same people who buys flash games for other cell phones. iPhone is bought for phone capabilities and iPod touch for media capabilities, almost nobody buys them for gaming (it is just extra feature). If VGChartz should track iPhone then they should track ALL cell phones because all cell phones can nowadays be used for gaming.

I am fairly certian you are wrong with your 90% number.   As of april this year, iphone users had downloaded 1 billion apps from the apple store.   With only 37 million devices, I would guess that the large majority of iphone owners are downloading apps from the store.  How many of these apps are games?   

You are correct people don't buy it for gaming, but that is unimportant.   People do use them for gaming, and that is important.  Why would a casual gamer choose to carry something for gaming when they can play games on their mp3 player or their cell phone?  The economics of the mobile gaming market is changing.