Smartphones hijack mobile gaming
Posted by Sandra Cosser on 03 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: Mobile Search
Phoning, texting, surfing the net, keeping up with Twitter, drafting and sending business email: what else is a smartphone for? According to a recent com.Score report, the answer is Gaming, and that’s Gaming with a capital G. The case for upper-case is obvious once you take into account the fact that 8.5 million mobile phone users have downloaded at least one game to their phones. That’s 3.8% of all mobile subscribers, which may not sound like all that much, until you consider that the number of mobile gamers increased by 17% from November 07 to November 08.
But not any old phone will do. Smartphones are where it’s at, which is probably why Dell and Acer have decided to climb aboard the smartphone gravy train. Cellular News sums it all up in this crystal clear table, where you can see just how big smartphones are in mobile gaming, and how, like non-smartphones, are like, so last November. Smartphones experienced a year-on year increase of 291%, while the run-of-the-mill variety actually lost ground – a whole 14%.
com.Score Mobile Gaming Stats from Cellular News
And the most popular gaming smartphone? Guess; and the first two don’t count.
Answer: the iPhone, of course, followed by the BlackBerry Curve. iPhoners are the most prolific gamers. Nearly 33% of iPhone users downloaded a game in November 08, while only 3.8% of all other mobile phone users could say the same. According to com.Score senior analyst, Mark Donovan, the reason for this is that the iPhone makes it so much easier to download games with a platform that is run along the same lines as iTunes.
And while teenage users are particularly well-represented in the demographics, the over-35 age group gave them fierce competition as far as the fastest growing user-group is concerned. And this, according to Donovan, has to do with the increasing sophistication of mobile games in general. So, while the PS3, Wii and X-box still offer plenty of adults the opportunity to fulfill childhood dreams of warrior/racing driver/gang leader greatness, many are getting the same kicks from their phones. And when you consider the expense of setting yourself up in PS3 gaming paradise – systems, chairs, consoles, steering wheels – vs. the cost of a smartphone contract, mobile gaming starts to make even more sense.
I’ll cite yet one more source and then I’m done: according to an article by Marin Perez (informationweek.com) the mobile gaming market is set to be worth more than $4.5 billion in 2009, and that’s considering the bone-crushing, college fund-eating recession.
Just one more reason for marketers to embrace mobile this year; as if they needed one.
