App: Penalty Cup
Company: IGA/Exit Games/Fishlabs
Year it was a Top Mobile App: 2006
Why it was a Top Mobile App: Back in 2006, in-game advertising was poised to take off. With "Penalty Cup," IGA launched dynamic in-game banners and sponsored tournaments. Click here [1] for more.
Its current status: The game never really became a popular application and didn't have enough support to continue as a viable app, according to Christof Wegmann, Exit Games' CTO. According to Michael Schade, the CEO of Fishlabs, since the advent of the iPhone and Apple's App Store, where innovation and connectivity count the most, the business model that games like "Penalty Cup" were based on simply could not survive.
Links:
[1] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/top-mobile-applications-2006-penalty-cup
[2] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/myspace-mobile-helio-top-mobile-apps-revisited-2006
[3] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/revisiting-top-mobile-apps-winners-2006
[4] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/special-reports/seeme-tv-top-mobile-apps-revisited-2006