Is The iPhone Damaging The Mobile Gaming Market?

from the not-really dept

Tue, Jan 8th 2008 10:26am — Mike Masnick

It's amazing how much stuff gets blamed on the iPhone on a regular basis. The latest is that some "industry experts" (which, in this case, actually means very biased people) are claiming that the iPhone is hurting the mobile gaming market, by not letting users download games to their phones. Of course, that's about to change as Apple finally opens up its SDK, and more importantly it's actually a more fundamental problem than one that is just about the iPhone. It is rather difficult to move games from one phone to another, and at the rate that many people (especially the early adopters who are more likely to buy games for their phones) changes phones, it can be a pain to have to constantly rebuy mobile games that people want. Of course, that goes beyond mobile games to just about any mobile application. Right now there are so many different devices, operating systems, platforms and network operators, it's nearly impossible to feel comfortable that a single app will work anywhere but where you first set it up. It's a problem that the industry is going to face more and more as they push for people to use their phones as more than just phones.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: iphone, mobile gaming
Companies: apple, ea

14 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Javelin, 8 Jan 2008 @ 10:57am

Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar?
I'm sorry, but If I have to spend $600 on my phone - to play video games - then I should do a little research on what is available first.

Most people who want portable gaming use a PSP or a DS - as both go online - and don't want their game interrupted by a friggin' phone call!

Who writes this stuff?!? ARGHH!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2008 @ 11:02am

industry exsperts
Exspert

An ex is a has been. Exinlaws. Exwife. Exemployer.

A spert is a drip under high pressure.

An exspert is thus a has been drip under high pressure.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jacob, 8 Jan 2008 @ 12:10pm

@ AC
Except its spelled Expert in English. I get what you're trying to do but you don't have to invent new words to do it lol.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
comboman, 8 Jan 2008 @ 12:13pm

What mobile gaming market?
The spectacular failure of Nokia's N-Gage should be proof that there is no mobile gaming market. Cell phone games are little more than time-wasting diversions; useful for when you're stuck in line at the DMV, but I don't know anyone who actually gets excited about a new game release for their phone. Most have whatever free download came with their phone when they bought it. If Nintendo released a phone that was compatible with the DS, then maybe there might be a market.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Overcast, 8 Jan 2008 @ 1:32pm

Ahh, great! Get an iPhone, get stuck with a single provider, can't really modify it - without updates breaking it. Can't even download games.

Hmm, odd - my 'non iPhone' has none of those problems.

But I agree - the 'mobile gaming market' doesn't exist. I'm a gamer, but I won't pay for little 'widget' games on my cell phone. I have one or two freeware things, but I can't see paying for anything like that for my phone. Ehh, I guess maybe if it was like 3 bucks, even then... not sure :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Anonymous Coward, 8 Jan 2008 @ 1:33pm

Yeah, this lack of inoperability is only one of the symptons of the fact that there basically is NO mobile (specifically PHONE) gaming market.

1. Lack of software interoperability across hardware platforms.
2. I'm not going to pay $10+ for a crappy tetris ripoff that barely functions in a playable manner on my phone.
3. I'm not going to subscribe (are you F*CKING KIDDING ME?!?) for a service that allows me to download more crappy tetris/Galaga/Etc. ripoffs ad nauseam for the low low price of $9.99+/mo.
4. If I wanted to waste my money on crappy games I would buy MS points and get Arcade games on Xbox Live...

[ link to this | view in thread ]
Jericho, 8 Jan 2008 @ 1:37pm

Immature Market
The whole situation harkens back to the early '80's (Yes I am old) where incompatibilities were rife because the market hadn't settled on a standard that could grow. At that time you had to choose between a commodore, a apple, a atari, a tandy, or an IBM to name a few. And all were incompatible software-wise with each other. So it's the same scenario playing out in a different space - cell phones. Give it a few more years an x86 will conquer there too ;) , standards will develop once one of the contenders pulls away from everyone else.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
dorpass, 8 Jan 2008 @ 2:21pm

Re:
You must have something other than Verizon then. Plenty of "non iPhones" have this problem.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rusty Shackleford, 8 Jan 2008 @ 3:57pm

A phone is a phone
..............So stop playing games on them... they generally suck anyway.. like the man says... buy a PSP or DS... and use the phone for phone calls... save yourself the download fees... and the dissapiontment your gonna get when you start trying to play that lame game
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cixelsid, 8 Jan 2008 @ 4:15pm

Re: Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar?
I'm sorry, but If I have to spend $600 on my phone - to play video games - then I should do a little research on what is available first. Most people who want portable gaming use a PSP or a DS - as both go online - and don't want their game interrupted by a friggin' phone call! Who writes this stuff?!? ARRGHH! Both my parents are men
I got quake on my N95, I play it in the airport with the sound on fullblast to annoy the jackass next to me typing away at his notebook like he's actually doing work. Also when I get a phone call I answer it loudly and go right on playing. Learn to multitask jackass.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cixelsid, 8 Jan 2008 @ 4:24pm

Re: A phone is a phone
..............So stop playing games on them... they generally suck anyway.. like the man says... buy a PSP or DS... and use the phone for phone calls... save yourself the download fees... and the dissapiontment your gonna get when you start trying to play that lame game
You know what else is a "dissapiontment"? I'll give you a clue, its starts with Y and ends with U.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rusty Shackleford, 8 Jan 2008 @ 4:52pm

Re: Re: A phone is a phone
get a life... reply to things that matter... even with a misspelled word you got the point
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Kraw, 9 Jan 2008 @ 4:51am

Re: Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar?
I'm sorry, but If I have to spend $600 on my phone - to play video games - then I should do a little research on what is available first.

maybe you should do a little research.. you'll see the iPhone doesn't cost $600 lol

[ link to this | view in thread ]
Cixelsid, 9 Jan 2008 @ 6:05am

Re: Re: Re: A phone is a phone
"reply to things that matter"
You are so right Rusty. I hang my head in shame. From now on I vow to change my replying-to-unimportant-posts ways!
[ link to this | view in thread ]