ISLAM - MOBILE GAMING: The iPhone

Unless you haven’t been on the internet, watching TV or have been stuck in a cave for the last few years, you’ve definitely heard of the Apple iPhone. There are many reasons that this device is popular, but one of the main reason reasons in my opinion is due to its open API that lets people easily build and distribute their own applications. By doing this, not only does it allow individuals to get some exposure, it also allows the iPhone to cater to more user requirements without having to create the applications themselves.

Upon taking a look at Rubicon Consulting’s iPhone impact study (which was carried out in 2008), I have noticed a pattern which is starting to become more and more habitual by individuals. On one hand the positive impact consists of:

- Users reporting high satisfaction with the device

- iPhone user report increased mobile web browsing

- One quarter reported it displaced computer notebook usage

While on the other hand, there were somewhat contradictory impacts, such as:

- Email in the number one function…for reading emails, not writing them

- One third of iPhone users carry a second phone. Why? According to the study, for making voice calls and composing emails

- It increased phone bills. The survey cites an average increase of 24% annually

We can see from the contradictory points that people carry a second phone with them whilst carrying the iPhone, where the second phone is used for making voice calls and as well as other basic procedures. This makes you question, so what is the iPhone carried for? This brings me to believe that the iPhone has now become something of a passport for becoming acceptable for social circles and such, rather than having ‘much’ obligation to its initial purpose as a mobile phone.

I think the tech community had been waiting for something like the iPhone to come along as it would fulfill their need for a ‘platform shift’ as well as ‘mobile cloud computing’. I think you could go as far as saying that these are more than just smart phones, they are major computer platforms for specific applications that cannot be run on a PC, but can easily compliment a PC the way a desktop computer can compliment and augment a mainframe.

In the past, there have been other attempts made to conquer the same niche market as Apple have done so well here, one attempt was made by Microsoft. When they initially released their device, the entire thrust was to do nothing more than miniaturize the desktop PC, in other words give users a PC in their pocket. There was noting really unique about the Microsoft smart phones, they stored PowerPoint presentations and Word Documents and ran Windows software as best as they could – if at all. The end result was a dilapidated smart-phone business that looked to be dead in the water, or at best, an odd niche market.

Another Swedish company named Neonode attempted to improve upon this segment by creating a gesture-based phone with similar touch sensitive capabilities as the iPhone. Needless to say, this was also dead in the water.

Due to the acceptance of the iPhone, it has set a pretty high benchmark for all other devices that plan on breaking into the same sector. I think one of the main facets that contributed to the acceptance of the iPhone was its ease of use and how smooth it would run in general. Due to it being able to remove all the noise that was present with the predecessors between the human / machine interaction, Apple have managed to console their customers that they can be relied on. And by using this as a leverage / selling point, they will be able to bring out an extended line of products bearing the famous ‘i____’ name, without fear of capital deficiency.

iPhone game platform

If we go back to early last year to the Game Developers Conference held in San Francisco, you'll read that Neil Young (iPhone developer) claims that the “iPhone is set to become the dominant gaming platform because of connectivity and the strength of the App store.” As seriously as I would like to accept this statement, I would have to half heartedly decline, mainly due to his opinion being biased. That’s not to say that he is completely wrong, to some extent he is right. For example, since 2008 the App store has seen more than 800million downloads with the gaming category being the most popular, while in their top 100 apps 60% of them are games. While at the conference, Neil Young was also encouraging the masses to continue developing games for the sake of gaming, and also to ‘not let the haters tell you it sucks…’

I think the reason the iPhone works as such a good gaming platform is down to its multi-touch capability, accelerometer and the screen size, as well as how they each compliment each other while also integrating so well together.

Following the release and success of the iPhone 3G S, it is even more visible now why it is preferred as a gaming platform over the pre-existing ones. The current 3Gs has had an upgrade on its processor and ram size to make it 2x faster overall. This will matter particularly with game loading times and help avoid those game crashes.

The iPhone 3G S is also one of the very few smart phones that comes equipped with Open GL 2.0 functionality, this allows the device to have a more robust out put of graphics and effects.

It also has the possibility to now run larger app sizes. Now that 16 is the new 8 and 32 is the new 16, there will be more room available to store more software. File sizes are already creeping up in size as they make the most of this opportunity; some games have even reached file sizes of 0.75GB. And if you notice, you'll see that other developers are beginning to share common assets with their newer models. For example, the PSP Go with its 16GB of memory looks even more like a direct attempt to take on the iPod Touch, aesthetically and technically. You then get Nintendo’s DSi which not only shares an ‘i’ in common, but also has its own online store, touch screen capabilities, camera and music playback.

Nintendo DSi: http://www.mobilemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/image_3905_superimage.jpg

PSP Go: http://www.hypegeek.com/theSexDrivenGeekBlog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/PSP-GO-11.jpg

iPhone Touch: http://toppayingideas.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/apple-Ipod-touch.jpg

Everyone knows that the customers control the success of products, and from looking at the sales of Apple’s iPhone series its evident that the formula has been successful as they are steadily catching up to their predecessors (Sony and Nintendo) after only a years release of the iPhone 3G S. iPhone/iPod Touch owners are currently at around fourty million, with Sony at 50 million and Nintendo at 100 million. I think with a little bit more of a push from Apple, this could soon become a triple platform race at the beginning of 2011.

Rubicon Consulting Study:

http://rubiconconsulting.com/insight/whitepapers/2008/04/the-apple-iphone-is-easily.html

Apple’s platform shift prediction:

http://www.9to5mac.com/IDC_predicts_300000_apps_more_30145

iPhone changing the corporate culture:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2010/01/a-new-era-for-corporate-cultur.php

Neil Young – Dominant gaming platform:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7960513.stm

iPhone’s Mysterious Island game (704mb):

http://shogungamer.com/news/reviews/review-jules-vernes-secrets-mysterious-island-iphone

iPhone 3G S launch record:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-10278437-94.html