Guess what--Apple is releasing the iPhone 3G today. No, I'm not kidding! How did the media sleep on this news? In a last-ditch effort to drum up some much-needed publicity for the device, Apple CEO Steve Jobs even sat down with The New York Times to discuss [1] the company's online App Store [2] initiative, which he said will feature more than 500 iPhone applications at launch. While the apps span from educational programs to m-commerce services to business productivity tools, Jobs said mobile games represent about a third of all App Store applications so far.
Mobile games are a fixture across the handset ecosystem, of course--according to a new consumer survey [3] issued this week by market analysis firm ABI Research, games are in fact the most common feature found on mobile devices, turning up on 64 percent of phones worldwide. But ABI also reports that games (along with web access) rank atop the list of features that subscribers never use--moreover, WiFi, mobile TV and games are the handset features consumers are least likely to regard as "essential."
Can the iPhone 3G change the general subscriber perception of mobile gaming? Can its faster data speeds and touchscreen user interface combine to create a mobile gaming experience as revolutionary as the mobile web experience delivered by the first iPhone? What makes me believe it can is the iPhone 3G's built-in accelerometer that responds to user behavior, changing the screen image in relation to device movement, tilting and rotation--what comes immediately to mind is a conversation I had a few months back at CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas, where someone compared the potential of the iPhone gaming experience to Nintendo's Wii console and its motion-detecting wireless controller, the clear-cut gold standard among recent gaming breakthroughs. The sheer volume of games developed for the iPhone 3G seems a sign of things to come: It's the device that promises to shake up mobile gaming, both figuratively and literally. -Jason [4]
Links:
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/technology/personaltech/10apps.html?_r=1&hp=&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print
[2] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/jobs-app-store-launch-features-500-iphone-applications/2008-07-10
[3] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/study-mobile-consumers-demand-camera-features/2008-07-09
[4] mailto:jankney@fiercemarkets.com