I'm not too worried about the businesses and jobs associated with media retail. Lots of other industries have gone obsolete and we always find something else to put those people to work on. The transition stinks, but that's progress.

And digitally. Duh.

I can't believe people are trying to make this out to be a failure somehow. Its a massive success. Considering Apple makes money on the hardware alone. Apple is making craploads of money while Sony and Microsoft are still trying to put out the fire.

Great point and one I hear often. Apple unlike most companies did not release SDK's to big companies months in advance. Everybody got them at the same time, 9 months ago. Considering that fact you are correct in assuming that there hasn't been enough time to craft an epic title. However I would like to add that even using the SDK release as a starting time-frame is most likely to early. Just like the Wii I think many devs have sat in the background for the first few months to see how things panned out. Those who got on board early have profited vastly from being proactive. Take this quote for example:

"Games sold via the App Store are the most profitable in terms of any of the formats we work on," said Simon Jeffery, the US president of Sega. As you may have heard, one of Sega's games, Super Monkey Ball, has sold more than 500,000 copies, despite remaining at what is rapidly becoming the comparatively high price of $10. Not bad for barely five months on the market.

EA, Gameloft and the (small) pre-existing Mac gaming companies also got involved early and the results show. Hero of Sparta is easily one of the most advanced games, and EA has produced some quite solid versions of Sim City and Spore. Mac devs have created some of the very best games on the platform due to prexisting knowledge of Interface Builder and the basic OS X APIs.

Right now I think devs like Konami and others are playing catchup but with some promising titles in the pipeline- MGS:Mobile comes to mind.

The reason the iPhone/iPod is more relevant than platforms like the N95 is specifically because their (Apple's) audiences have been proven to spend money and support development. The N95 has a huge userbase yet there is little development from 3rd parties because the profit isn't there. If you consider that every platform and their mother is now creating an "App Store" you will understand how in the past userbase has not translated into software sold. The AppStore has in less than 9 months essentially taken over the paid (and free) mobile download segment worldwide. They did this with install base, the nearly universally considered the best mobile SDK, and global reach- of course advertising doesn't hurt. This brings me to another knock against the N95. It lack of international appeal, not because tha hardware is bad (its quite nice), but because Nokia has essentially abandoned all markets except Europe, which coincidentially is not the gaming oublishing powerhouse that the US or Japan is (though that is slowly changing) . Right now Nokia isn't even on the radar in the Americas or Asia and until that changes they will lose to Apple, MS, Andoid/Google, and perhaps even Palm. 

It doesn't really compare to handhelds or consoles. Only a fraction of iTouch(iPhone) users regularly buy games, and a much smaller % would buy a device *for* the games.

Look at something like Brain Age I/II on the DS - almost 40m units sold, and at a profit of $10-$15US per unit for Ninty. That is a massive amount of software revenue, and only for 1-2 titles.

Its very significant in terms of the mobile market though - its basically taken over, especially in terms of development and distribution of applications (for money).

Going to be very interesting to see how the DSi does...

I don't there is person who would disagree with you- I think the reason people are interested is because of how quick Apple has become a player, even a niche one. It is especially remakable when you consider all the players in the market who have been around for literally more than a decade, and yet can't seem to create a viable mobile gaming/app platform. Nearly all have been stillborn. Look at the N-Gage, Nokia is the biggest provider in the world, with massive resources and talented devs and a multi-year head start. And guess what? They are getting demolished. The same applies to Windows Mobile which has had an iteration since the late 90's, backed by one of the largest software companies in the world. Add in the fact that all of these competitiors support dozens of models and the uptick of Apple is even more surprising.

Apple has put its butt on the line hoping that users move toward convergence. Even Sony and Nintendo seem to be moving that way (PSP media stuff and DSI). If convergence is indeed the future Apple is well positioned with a foothold in the mobile market, a growing desktop OS, iTunes,  developer relations (which Sony and Ninty have as well), and a strong non-gaming portfolio. Does that mean they will ever leave the niche? Heck no, who knows. But considering how they have radically changed the mobile phone landscape in the last 2 1/2 years I wouldn't put it past them. One only has to look at all the commericals out there for the various "iPhone killers" (that look quite similar to the iPhone) to realize that the industry has gotten quite a wake-up call.

Even if Apple doesn't ever go anywhere I'm glad they have helped improve innovation highly stagnated market. This is why competition is always good.

In unrelated news, expect more awful cell phone games to clutter up the news sites.

We need a mobile version of VGC. Accessing this site with the iPhone (or any other mobile phone) is a real hassle. At least the iPhone touch screen make resizing the browser so much easier.

My iTouch is probably my most favorite thing ever, seriously I love it.

I'm curious if you have played any? Sure there is a lot of crap, but there are some gems. Rolando is amazing and some of the racing games are IMHO some of the best this generation, and Payback is the best GTA 1/2 clone I have ever played. FPS's haven't fared so well yet, but some of the 3rd person stuff is quite nice. Compared to the old Java ME games of the past the jump in quality is significant.

It is indeed remarkable how highly Nokia touted the N-Gage, how much resources they put in it, and how miserably it failed. I don't know if MS have really put much resources into mobile gaming, but they surely are not a big player in that area, even with all the 3rd parties. The real reason Apple and iPhone are so much in the news is how massively they have changed the game, pun intended. It has taken Apple less than a year to accomplish more than Nokia, MS and all other competitors have accomplished combined: Apple made a working solution for distributing and selling mobile applications for all who own and Apple phone. It has been noted several times before, but the real killer-app is the AppStore, and now everybody and their grandmother is wanting to have a copy of it.

Besides the AppStore, the other key ingredient is Cocoa Touch and the iPhone SDK. Luckily I have not had to program anything for Symbian or Windows Mobile, but I've heard from a number of people that Symbian is really a big pain in the ass, and Windows Mobile is better but far from good. So far everybody I know of who have made the transition to the Apple side of things have uniformally praised the frameworks and development tools. I can only say that it is really, really easy to make apps that look great, so you can concentrate on making your app work really well. Add to that the uniformity of the installed base, and you don't have to worry about supporting 25+ different device configurations, which is a HUGE burden. Then add to that the fact that I have just one party to deal with then I want to distribute my app, and I don't have to worry about anything else than submitting my app for them, and what you end up with is quite simply the best mobile application ecosystem in existence today.

As long as these pieces are in place - the easy buying and installation of apps for consumers, and great development tools, a uniform installed base and hassle-free distribution for developers - the platform will continue to grow and be a success. I hope that other phone manufacturers will be successful in their marketplaces, but quite honestly I don't think they can put up as comprehensive an offering as Apple.