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Apple is looking to hire an experienced multimedia engineer for the iPhone and iPod touch, who’s a passionate gamer and has shipped at least one “AAA” game in the last few years.
While first-party titles are a mainstay, and main point of attraction for dedicated gaming platforms like Nintendo (Mario), Microsoft (Halo), and Sony (Little Big Planet), so far all Apple has offered its “funnest iPod ever” is Texas Hold’em [$4.99 - iTunes link] back in 2007.
Just what could Apple be brewing now? Anyone imagine what a first-party Apple gaming franchise could be?
[via AppleInsider]
The above graph, part of Morgan Stanley Internet analyst Mary Meeker’s presentation at Web 2.0, showing iPhone/iPod touch as the fastest-growing consuming electronic platform in history pretty much speaks for itself. However, TechCrunch is happy to add a big exclamation point at the end:
[iPhone/iPod touch] adoption ramp is even steeper than videogame consoles including the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP. The original iPod and Blackberry aren’t even in the same league.
No doubt this plays into Apple’s recent financial results, but building on what must now be around a 60 million strong install base (50 million from last quarter + 7.4 million new iPhones, + undisclosed amount of iPod touches), builds just the kind of momentum that tends towards freight-train like.
TechCrunch also shows charts highlighting the increase in AT&T data traffic since the iPhone came online (4,932%), and how mobile adoption is “outpacing” desktop. Check out the full article, linked above, for more.
For our iPhone 3GS hardware review, we joked it was the same as last year, end of story. Thanks to Apple, we’re left with pretty much the same opening line here: the iPod touch G3 is the same as last year.
Except, of course, like the iPhone 3GS, that outward assessment doesn’t tell the inner story at all, and while Apple marketing didn’t see fit to call this the iPod touch S, that inner story is again all about speed.
Note: You’ll see a lot of “like the iPhone 3GS here” because, frankly, it is and we reviewed that member of Apple’s mobile platform family first. That also means we’ll focus on what differences there are, and we’ll also take a look at whether the iPod touch G3 is a good choice for those who want in on Apple’s iPod and App Store ecosystem, but don’t want an iPhone or smartphone contract. (Yes, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Palm, Android, and feature-phone users want an “App for That” too…)
It’s no secret that the Apple App Store is just flooded with games and entertainment titles – 21,178 to be exact.
As impressive as that number may sound, however, there is an old saying that says quality over quantity. Now don’t get us wrong, there are very impressive games that have hit the App Store but we think developers are just beginning to scratch the surface of the power of Apple devices. When the App Store was first introduced many developers just rushed to put apps together in a effort to simply cash in with some subpar apps. As time goes on we are seeing more and more impressively polished games arrive in the store.
Games such as EA’s Madden 2010, Assassins Creed 2 from Ubisoft (available November 11th), and a FPS called Nova from Gameloft are just a taste of what’s to come.
So we ask the big question to you, does Apple raise a serious threat to the likes of Sony and Nintendo? What are you using these days to get your game on?
During the It’s only rock and roll, but we like it special music event, as usual, Apple spent some time up front discussing numbers. And as is increasingly usual when it comes to the music leg of their business, those numbers tend towards the HUGE. To date:
- 30 million iPhones sold
- 20 million iPod touches sold
That makes 50 million iPhone OS X platform device on the market, up from 45 million on July 21.
- 75,000 apps in the iTunes App Store
- 1.8 billion downloads (not counting updates)
Still no breakdown of paid vs. free, but up from 3,000 this time last year, and 65,000 and 1.5 billion back on July 14.
In terms of games, compared with other mobile platforms, here’s the library count:
- 21,178 for Apple iPhone/iPod touch
- 3,680 for Nintendo DS
- 607 for Sony PSP
But wait, there’s more…
iPhone 3.0 (and maybe hardware version 3 as well?) vs. Palm Pre. This summer, that’s the question many would-be-smartphone purchasers just might be asking themselves. Both have their pros and cons. The iPhone has a huge profile and market presence, but the Pre has the old-school Palm faithful who have been waiting a long time for their Next Big Thing. The iPhone has massive channels and even Sprint admits they won’t be advertising the Palm Pre much due to low initial supply. But those most likely to want the Palm Pre already know it’s coming, where to get, and may well be reading this while already standing in line.
But what about the consumer on the edge? The consumer who has an older iPhone or Palm, or the one who’s about to move up from a feature phone for the first time. What about the dreaded “undecided”? This article is for them. And, yeah, we’re an iPhone blog, so make sure you head on over to our sister-site PreCentral.net. They’ll keep us honest and make sure you get a full, fair representation so you can make an informed decision.
Now let’s get it on… after the break!
Every week I will be bringing you what I think are the week’s biggest stories and articles. Let’s get started, after the break! Read the rest of this entry »
We have covered the iPhone and gaming from top to bottom here at TiPb. The iPhone still has a lot of catching up to do in terms of the quality of the games and you can also toss in the lack of physical controls as a huge negative. All that aside, for the most part we’ve felt that if Apple plays their cards correctly, they could be a major player in the handheld gaming wars alongside the likes of Nintendo and Sony.
Maybe you’ve agreed with us, maybe you haven’t. If you’ve disagreed with our opinions and views that’s fine and dandy but maybe, just maybe, you will listen to Trip Hawkins. Who’s Trip Hawkins you ask? He started a little gaming company called Electronic Arts.
“The iPhone is by far our most effective platform. We make as much money with these games on one device as we do putting a game on 100 different cell phone platforms. Between the iPod touch and the iPhone, I think the platform is freaking out Sony and Nintendo.”
That is a pretty strong statement. It may be a great thing as more and more developers will take the iPhone as a serious contender and produce more and higher quality games, or it may prove to be one of the biggest pitfalls. It may encourage more developers to throw quality and innovation out the window and simply pump out below-average games just to make that quick profit. Up until this point we’ve seen a combination of some high quality games and some pure garbage. In the end, it’s about the almighty dollar and we get that. Hopefully game developers come up with ways to push the platform to the next level.
So where do you see this going in the long run for the iPhone as a gaming platform? Lets hear your thoughts!
[Via theappleblog.com]
We’ve talked about this several times before on TiPb, but Jeremy Horwitz over at iLounge takes an interesting journey via the game Peggle, what it’s release looks like for the Nintendo DS at $30, how retail sales prices break down, and what it might mean for iPhone gamers if they’re forced by market conditions to give us a barer-boned $5 version.
We know Apple said “free apps stay free”, so there’s still no model for demos to get people hooked, but the idea of ScaleWare, so a low introductory price can be followed by a few level/feature pack upgrades is something we’re fond of. Horwitz rightly points out that if devs over use this, however, it could make things worse:
just imagine the commercials showing someone actually playing a full Sony or Nintendo handheld game alongside someone clicking on iPod touch dialog boxes to the sound of a cash register.
iLounge likes the idea of regular games (i.e. cheap) with the in-app option to upgrade to deluxe versions (i.e. full price). Sounds good to us. We want great games on the iPhone, and we’re willing to reward developers with fair prices for their work. Are you?
There’s so much going on in iPhone gaming right now, it’s almost as hard to keep up with that as with iPhone 3.0. Two large industry shows bookend much of the current news, iGames Summit and Game Developers Conference (GDC). With multiple awards, great discussions on the future, and a slew of upcoming product announcements, we figured we’d take a moment and round things up…
