We called it first, and it seems like someone listened

Movaya was heard when it declared 2008 to be The Year of the Mobile Game. An article in the NYTimes today (Trying Again on Mobile Games, by Andreas Tzortzis), is dedicated to the mobile gaming industry.

Andreas talks about the Nokia N-Gage QD, which is the follow up to the gaming-centric cellphone Nokia introduced in 2003. The original phone came and went pretty quickly, though one of our founders still rolls with one. The phone looks like a cross between a game controller and phone, and looks very awkward when held to ones head, rather like a taco.

A key takeaway from the article is the fact that companies in the mobile space have not spent money on investing in gaming, yet. Movaya is positioned well to catch as much business as possible here, and we are getting excited for our bet to pay off.

The other key point is that data transfer cost is falling, allowing for the marketplace to loosen up in terms of the willingness of consumers to download games. It used to be that downloading a game cost more in terms of $/kb downloaded than in the actual cost of the game.

CEOs @ Davos: Adding Fuel to the Mobile Fire

Year of the mobile game? How about 'Year the Mobile Phone Takes Over?'. Movaya has been spending a lot of air time preaching about 2008 as the year mobile gaming really takes off. But, it may be that gaming is just one node of the mobile juggernaut that will be unleashed on the world in 2008. In fact, 2008 may be the year that the mobile platform becomes solidified as the top platform in the world for content, news and entertainment, surpassing the usage of TV, Internet and movies combined.

This past week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, there was a panel entitled 'The Future of Mobile Technology'. Panelists included Google (Public, NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Eric Schmidt, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, Sony (Public, NYSE:SNE) CEO Sir Howard Stringer, NBC Universal (owned by General Electric) CEO Jeff Zucker, SK Telecom (Public, NYSE:SKM) CEO Kim Shin-Bae and China Mobile (Public, NYSE:CHL) CEO Wang Jianzhou.

Quotes and feedback that got us excited:
Schmidt on the 'tipping point' of mobile phone usage: "It's the recreation of the Internet, it's the recreation of the PC (personal computer) story and it is before us — and it is very likely it will happen in the next year"

Stringer thinks that mobile will be the “platform for everything”

NBC's Zucker was the only panel member with reservations, noting that mobile will not have a huge impact on NBC. This is not surprising, as members of the music, TV and movie industries are still reluctant to fully embrace digital content in any form. We call these firms dinosaurs.

China Mobile adds 6 million subscribers a month to its base of 317 Million. Note that this means China Mobile is adding the equal to ATT each year. Oh, and their market cap on the NYSE is over $300 billion USD now, trailing only GE and some oil companies in size. This means that, roughly, each subscriber is worth $1000 USD to China Mobile, and by the middle of 2009 they will be the worlds largest company.

Now, back to the business of selling mobile games and applications.

Mobile 2.0, a follow up to the Year of the Mobile Game

As a follow up to our post on 2008 being the year of the Mobile Game, we would like to revisit a great article from ReadWriteWeb that outlines their definition of Mobile 2.0, and its comparison to Web 2.0. This is really important to us here at Movaya, because it really makes clear why our business model is spot-on, and that the mobile world is indeed opening up here in the US.

Mobile 2.0, according to our definition, closely matches what you will read below. But the bottom line is that mobile 2.0 will be reached when mobile websites are ubiquitous and meet or surpass the visitation numbers of regular websites. It will be at this point that electronic commerce conducted on mobile web sites will be significant.

From ReadWriteWeb: What we mean by 'mobile 2.0' is another (r)evolution, already started, that will dramatically change the web and the mobility landscape that we currently know. The idea is that the mobile web will become the dominant access method in many countries of the world, with devices that become more hybrid and networks that become more powerful - everywhere in the next decade to come. (www.readwriteweb.com, Dec 11. 2006)

Further, the article outlines the main components of mobile 2.0. These points were made in December of 2006, so we have added our comments in BOLD face to show the progress:

1) Openness: open standards, open-source development and open access - creating more options for the user, not enclosing them in the walled gardens currently (still) used by operators. Google's Android, Verizon's new effort to open up, ATT's claim as the 'most open' network. All three of these announcements have happened in the last 6 months.

2) The context of accessing the network and associated web services needs to be a positive user experience. For example for mobile search, the context includes: browser type, different device functionalities, security issues, display on a small screen, how to insert ads, etc. Associated with this is the usability experience of the devices, applications and services - and other components. For a more detailed analysis of context and the mobile web, see this article I wrote for gotomobile. The iPhone proves all of this correct, and now all the OEMs are racing their iPhone slayers to market. The ability to experience the 'web' on a phone is going to rapidly improve in 2008. Soon, there will be no WAP, it will all be Web.

3) Affordable pricing to use the network to access content and services. Data plans are becoming cheaper, and wireless carriers are now offering 'all you can eat' plans for as little as $20/month. Prices should continue to drop.

4) More user choice in the ways to communicate and share experiences with others (social interaction). Social Networking is all the rage on mobile devices, with numerous start-ups entering the race. Facebook and MySpace are now mobile. Devices are now made to order for all types of communication: voice, email, SMS, instant messaging, faxing.

5) Intelligent 'aware' applications and devices that know where you are; location 'aware' applications seamlessly integrated. Location based services (LBS) are being installed on all new devices, and applications utilizing this tech will hit critical mass this year.

6) New business opportunities coming to market, which may or may not connect to operators networks; think RSS feeds, alerts to SMS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Entertainment download zones and access spots, Podcasting to your mobile, Streaming Videocall to TV, Moblogging, Video blogging and media sharing applications, Click to Call (a phone number tagged into a mobile web or WAP page), Mobile Search, and last but not least VoIP tools & services. All of the above are coming true as more and more devices utilize WiFi and/or 3G networks. And, numerous companies big and small are getting in on mobile TV, movies, streaming video, blogging and more. And all of this started up in 2007.

All six points made by ReadWriteWeb are dead on, and provide a great foundation for the definition of mobile 2.0.

Leave your comments to discuss further, and as always, feel free to email us here at MobilePhoneBlog.

2008 - The Year of the Mobile Game

The Mobile Phone Blog, powered by Movaya, predicts 2008 will be the Year of the Mobile Game.

Here at the MPB, we pay close attention to the daily barrage of blog posts, industry analysis, insider rumors, and of course to our business at Movaya. And everything we know adds up to 2008 being the year that the Mobile Game busts out of the shadows and into the hand of the average American.

Some of the reasons why:

• Mobile gaming growth rate stronger than console (XBOX, PS, Wii) and handheld (think portable playstation) games; trails only casual games today (MobileIndustry article)
• Mobile game publishers are embracing off-deck solutions, as witnessed by the GLU financial statements, EA's quarterly statements and the general traction Movaya is getting from game publisher sign ups (including Capcom, Com2uS, Machineworks Northwest, PlayerX, Superscape and more).
  
• Verizon opens up: Introduces 'Any app, Any Device'. No off-deck yet, but it is on the way, and Verizon is clearly starting to think outside 'the walls'. Read more here
  
• iPhone users are proving that games matter, since 6 out of the top 10 applications used today are games (Apple iPhone Apps Countdown) - this says a lot about the usefulness of advanced devices and their ability to play games.
  
• Google releases Android, the open-source mobile OS, suggesting a future of customer-centric devices made for advanced gaming
• Overall, the mobile-game market in the United States is worth more than $675 million a year - and has grown 24 percent in the past 12 months, according to Nielsen Media Research. Some analysts expect it to double in revenue next year, thanks to shows like Top Chef Challenge that target new demographics.
• The international market is also projected to double - topping $10 billion by the end of next year, with 920 million mobile users downloading games, according to a report issued last month by Jupiter Research, a global leader in high-tech communications research.

Help Movaya make 2008 a great year in Mobile Gaming and Applications, and let us help you by making our platform better, send us your ideas for the new year: Email the team

Happy New Year Everyone.