Google vs. Apple: A Modern Day, Wild West Showdown

There is no doubt about it.  There no longer is any love lost between Apple and Google.  When the iPhone 3G was released, the Google Android OS was nothing more than an announcement still months away from release.  As Apple's market continued to grow and in some ways overtake the Blackberry market, so grew Google's appetite for becoming a player in the mobile market.  Look at the chart below.  Apple has been at this way longer.  In fact, one would think that they would have nothing to worry about but that may not be the case.  As of today, Google has over 20,000 apps in its app store and 20 different phones on the market using its operating system.  Even if Apple opens up its network to someone other than AT&T, which seems unlikely at this time, can they really compete against a market that is absolutely saturated with Google Android products?



I've linked to it before but it's worth mentioning again.  Right after the announcement of the iPad, Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, had a private employee only meeting.  In that meeting he reportedly told the crowd his thoughts on Google.  He said, "We did not enter the search business.  They entered the phone business. Make no mistake they want to kill the iPhone. We won’t let them."  Sounds to me like Jobs is taking this threat seriously, and he should.  Few companies are bigger than Google.  Although the size of a company has never stopped Jobs from taking them on.  Microsoft comes to mind.

In this case though, he will be directly competing with Google.  A company that provides the iPhone with quite a bit of cool functionality.  I'm thinking of the built-in Maps application, Google Search, Google Earth, etc.  Microsoft never tried to compete with Apple when it came to the hardware side of the business.  No, this competition is of a different kind.  I think Apple needs to be careful here.  At some point, they need Google more than Google needs them.

Maybe the first real battle cry was when Google Voice was rejected from the App Store without a second thought.  After the FCC intervened, Apple said it was AT&T who dismissed the app.  Then AT&T said they had nothing to do with the app verification process.  Then Apple decided that they actually they hadn’t dismissed the app entirely, they were just waiting to try and figure out what to do with it.  That deliberation started months ago and still is being held up for whatever reason.  Instead of waiting around, Google circumvented the issue by making Google Voice available via the browser.  That's the nice thing about being the largest website in the world.  You can do things like that and no one can do anything about it.

Literally just days after the App Store rejection of Google Voice (August 3rd), Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, resigned from the board of Apple.  A position he held for 3 years.  These companies were tied together so closely that Google’s CEO held a position on Apple's board!  Obviously when it became clear that Google was entering the mobile market, Apple's Market, it was time for him to go.

Those things all lead up to the day Google announced its own phone on January 5th.  Up until then, they had simply created a platform that could be used by phone manufacturers.  The day they started selling their own phone, there was no doubt left.  Google wanted to kill the iPhone; at least according to Jobs.  He says they won't let them do it but when they are facing down a company that is literally synonymous with the internet, do they really have a chance?  Time will tell.

OS 4.0 for iPhone/iPod Touch Likely All About Customization

The jailbroken iPhone/iPod Touch has it easy in a lot of ways.  You can multitask, kill apps, and even customize your interface.  However, if you don't want to deal with the business of jailbreaking for whatever reason, you have to wait until Apple comes out with these features on their own.  The feature I want to talk about today is the ability to customize the OS interface.  I believe that due to heavy competition, OS 4.0 will include several new ways of customizing your iPhone/iPod Touch experience.  Many of Apple’s mobile competitors are making a living because they claim they can customize their interfaces better and give the user a more personal experience than Apple does with the iPhone/iPod Touch.  For the most part, this rings true.  Think about it, how many things can you really personalize on your iPhone?  Backgrounds and ring tones come to mind but not much else.  Phones like the MyTouch from T-Mobile and most Android phones have quite a bit more you can do.  I think OS 4.0 will go a long way towards fixing this complaint on both the iPod Touch and iPhone.

More customization probably means more apps, themes, etc and overall more money via the App Store for Apple.  What kind of customization can we expect then?  I think we will see several things.  I think we will see themes that will be able to be used throughout the entire iPhone.  Not only on the background but also on the lock screen, the keyboard, and possibly icons.  I also see customization being more accessible when it comes to alarms and notices.  Right now I have three email accounts on my iPhone.  While I can change the push notification sound, I would like to be able to do a different sound for each separate inbox.  For example, if I receive an email during a meeting and I hear the chime for my personal inbox, I won’t check it.  If it’s the chime for my business email inbox, I’ll know that as well.  Other phones already have these types of options and Apple is playing catch up when it comes to this kind of functionality and customization.

Apple knows that it is now directly competing against Google and its entirely open platform (did you guys see what Jobs supposedly said about Google?).  While Apple has always been insular in everything thing they do when it comes to manipulating their user interface, in order to compete they must realize that they need to be open to change.  I think iPhone/iPod Touch customization will be one of the ways Apple begins to open up its interface to its users in the coming OS 4.0 release.  What do you think?  What kind of customization do you want to see?

Why iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad OS 4.0 Will Likely Include Folders/Categories

After writing about OS 4.0's likely lack of multitasking in my last article, I wanted to follow with something that I think will be added in OS 4.0. As an avid App Store lover, I have been building my app collection to ridiculous sizes. I am always having trouble managing how much space I have left when the latest and greatest apps come out. In fact, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars weighs in at over 700 MB's on my iPhone right now. Of course, Apple won't be able to fix this problem with a firmware update, I’ll just have to start going to AA (Applications Anonymous). However, a different problem that goes along with my desire to own every outstanding app may be solvable in OS 4.0 and that is the issue of easily filtering out the icons I want to see.

Here is the how and why. First off, there needs to be an easy way of categorizing apps on your phone. At this point an iDevice can store 180 apps on 10 pages. Who wants to memorize where every one of them is. Some of them you may not even know by name so searching may not be an option. Instead, you simply have to look through page after page of icons. This can made much simpler by having folders where you can stick your apps. One for games, tools, news, etc. If you not a jailbreaker, you might not know that this has been around for years for the folks using Cydia or other jailbreaking OS's. I'm pretty sure this functionality will be in the newest OS. It only makes sense since Apple is all about usability and aesthetics. This seems like an easy fix that can help all iPhone/iPod Touch users, regardless of how old their device is.



Whether Apple likes it or not, competitors are lining up and 4.0 needs to be a pretty big step up. Even if we don’t see something like multitasking included in the forthcoming OS, I think we will see a ton of additional functionality when it comes to customization and ease of use. Tomorrow I will write about another addition that will surely be included (fingers crossed). In fact, it has already been reported by some news sites to be in. Just for the record, anyone here jailbreak their phone? Anyone tempted to just to get all of the functionality you are missing out on?

Free Groundbreaking iPhone App - TheWall - Impressions

Price: $.99

Publisher: Xiotex Studios

Get it now on

Editor's note: We don't review apps but once in a while one comes along that is too good to pass up. So, we're not reviewing it but we sure they heck want to tell you about it.  The basics.  Anywhere you go, write on TheWall.  Whatever you want.  That note will be there for anyone else using the wall when they come to that destination.  No usernames, no passwords; just the program using your GPS and other user's experiences.  Without further ado, Josh Cox writes his first impressions below.

I am currently using an brand new app called The Wall. Personally, I think it could really be a ground breaking app but the problem is no one has heard of it.  In the app store no one has even reviewed it, it's virtually invisible. I am very interested in TheWall so I have looked into the developers at Xiotex Studios. They display the number of downloads the app has had on their home page.   How many? As of 2/20, six.

TheWall is a geo-location social networking app. The name TheWall is referring to "the writing on the wall." The app is simple. Open it up and write whatever you want. Your message is then saved to that specific location. The only time your message is accessible is when a TheWall user opens the app at the location.

Here is my experiment. No one can get much out of this app if I am the only one using it. So, for the next month or so I am going to write messages at some popular public places. I am going to write "iphonegamerblog.com" then a short message specific to each location. After I visit a location and write a message I will update this blog. If anyone reads the message, hopefully they will find this blog and leave a comment.

If you download TheWall and are using it please leave a comment then let me know. I live in the Chicago area but travel around the Midwest for work. Currently I plan on going to the art museum in Chicago and The Rock and Roll HOF in Cleveland in the next few weeks. If you have TheWall and get there before I do, leave me a message.

UPDATE - 2/22/10: I left a post on TheWall at Cheddar's Casual Cafe on the East side of Springfield, IL.

UPDATE - 2/23/10: Today I left a post at Lincoln's Tomb in Springfield, IL.

iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad OS 4.0 Will Not Include Multitasking

OS 4.0 rumors for the iPod Touch and iPhone continue to swirl around.  Many believe that its release will come in time for the launch of the iPad in late March.  A lot of people believe that this will include the one really big feature that has been missing since the iPhone's first release, the ability to multitask.  Personally, I am nearly positive this is not the case.  If it were the case, don't you think that they would have announced multitasking during the monumental press conference they had last month?  I think they would have.  Especially since many in the press were nonplussed about what came out of the iPad announcement and that led to stagnant stock prices for Apple.

I also have a feeling that multitasking can't adequately be done by the hardware of anything other than the 3GS, the brand new iPad or the newest version of the Touch.  Does Apple really want to end all firmware support of older generation iPhones and iPod Touch?  I'm not sure they do.  After all, what they are doing right now generated nearly a billion dollars in App Store revenue profits last year.  Think about that number.  Apple hosted the App Store and made a billion dollars.  They didn't create any of that content; they just provided a place for it.  That is nearly 100% profit.  Out of the 70 million iPod/iPhone devices in the world, half are probably older generation devices.  If they began supporting multitasking, and the older models couldn't do it, newer software likely would not run, meaning less revenue from apps for Apple.

The economics and hardware issues aside, there is another issue.  All 3 Apple devices have one single button.  Unless they implement something akin to the way jailbroken multitasking works, holding down the one button to switch apps, there isn't a whole bunch of ways I can think of for them to easily support it.  I think it's a shame that they didn't include an extra button on the iPad, at least something like a toggle or a wheel that would allow for switching apps or even scrolling down the screen.  And in any case, maybe it’s just me but when I'm reading a book I don’t want to drag my finger across a glass screen to turn the next page.  A wheel would have been nice.

I have a feeling that when 4.0 does arrive, whenever it is, it will disappoint.  There may be a nice feature here or there but in all likelihood, multitasking will be nowhere in sight.  Yes, people want it but why would Apple care.  After all, it obviously isn't hurting their sales not to have it.  What do you guys think?  Do you expect multitasking to be added in the near future?  Chime in.

Marketing Advice for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad Developers

You are developing for a platform that is used by 70 million (best guess) people.  That number is sure to expand.  You are in a market that literally has a hundred thousand competitors.  It can be hard to stand out.  In fact, in some game genres – it seems impossible.  The question is, how can you reach the most people with your latest and greatest game?  It is a tough question and one I am interested in looking at.   First some background on me; I do marketing for a software company that has nothing to do with games or any iDevice.  In our marketplace there are about 10 main competitors.  It's not easy to stand out but it is possible.  Below are some of the things we do that may also work for your game/company.

We use Twitter and set up keyword searches for our segment of the market (including our competitors).  We make sure to follow up with people that have expressed interest in a certain type of software and mention our own software and what features it has.  We bring those people to our website or to a review of our software.  As an iDevice game developer, you can do the same thing.  Never underestimate how much more valuable a review is than your own bullet points or opinions.  No one trusts a company trying to sell things to them.  We use references to stand out from the crowd.  For you, a good review is a good reference.

We have an optimized web page that allows people to easily find out about our product and what we do.  Create a webpage in an open source CMS like Drupal or Wordpress.  Both of these have SEO (search engine optimization) plugins available that will help people find your website.  Make sure you link back to all of the reviews that are out there (at least the good ones).  Make the site look nice but more importantly, make sure people can easily find information they want.  There are way too many websites out there that have good information no one ever sees.  If you offer a forum or a way of your fans to interact with you, be careful to moderate it.  Only open up a forum if you have the staff to moderate.  Otherwise, you could be opening up Pandora's Box.

As far as optimizing your own website.  It really is a ton of work.  It may or may not be something you have time to do.  The most important thing is make sure the copy or text you write on your page matches up with your Meta descriptions (which should be different for each page on your site).  Meta keywords don't matter as much anymore (in fact Google doesn't use them for their search rankings at all).  Think about advertising on Google Adwords or Yahoo's advertising service.  Depending on the type of game you are advertising for you may be able to bring people to your site for just 10 cents per click (a very good price).  This is something that should be used sparingly though because the cost can quickly add up if you used an oft-used keyword for your ads.

Reach out to members of the gaming world.  All of the big guys including Touch Arcade and Pocket Gamer but don't forget about sites like this one as well.  In fact, the smaller the site, the likelier that your game will be noticed by its readers.  Some of the larger sites put up 4 or 5 reviews per day.  It's pretty difficult to be noticed in that type of crowd.  If you do want to advertise directly at a gaming site, ask around before doing so.  Make sure that they can give you an advertising sheet that explains their rates and the cost you are likely to pay in a month.  The cliché, "it costs money to make money" does apply here but be careful to not go crazy with advertising.  A .5% click through rate (very good in most cases) is likely the best that you can hope for.  If that site receives 1,000 impressions per day and you pay $10 per 1000 impressions, you are paying out $10 for 5 clickthroughs.  If your game costs $2 you are just breaking even.  That isn't an ideal situation.  On the other hand, if you pay a monthly rate for an unlimited number of impressions, you might be able to bring in a lot more money.  For example, if you have a .5% click through rate and pay $200/month at the site that has 1,000 impressions per day then in an average month you are receiving 30,000 impressions and getting 150 clicks.  That means you are making a profit of $100/month.

I hope this article is able to help some of the developers out there looking for marketing advice.  Let me know if you have any questions.  If this is something you are interested in knowing about, let me know.  I have some other ideas that may be able to help your own company branch out into other areas.  If you’re not a developer and just reading this article, I hope you found it slightly interesting.  No matter who you are, let me know if you would like to know more about this stuff.

iPad: Death for Indie Developers?

I'm worried.  One of the best parts of the App Store is that small, indie developers are able to make a huge impact when it comes to the gaming landscape.  They are able to do this for a number of reasons.  First, the iPhone/iPod Touch is fairly easy to develop for when compared to a PC or a Mac. Everyone is using the same operating system and system specifications.  Secondly, many of the large developers are just now dipping their feet into the mobile platform.  This is especially true when you compare EA's smaller offerings on the iPhone when compared to consoles.  When they begin marketing full on, I believe there will be less room for indie developers to make an impact.  Finally, the reason a game like Doodle Jump can be developed in 2 months by 2 guys is because there are not a ton of fancy graphics.  Fantastic gameplay and creative graphics but minimal graphics all the same.  When the iPad comes out and you are able to see a game like Doodle Jump on a 10 inch screen, what will you see?  A substantial amount of space being underutilized and cute but simplistic graphics.  A game like Doodle Jump may have no place on the iPad.

How is a puzzle game or Stickmen Wars supposed to compete with a company like EA's game lineup when it comes to graphics?  They have no chance. The iPad seems like it is all about graphics.  Everything is pretty.  Everything is cool.  The iPhone is a perfect size for indie developers because even the best looking game still isn’t larger than 3 inches.  I know there will still be a market for indie developers on the iPhone and iPod Touch; a huge one.   But when I see a smaller company talk about how they are excited about bringing their scribble game to the iPad, I wince.  I just can't imagine those games will be popular on the much larger iPad screen.  Then again, I could be wrong.  What do you think?

The iPad means the beginning of $20 - $30 games on App Store

If you were around on Wednesday you probably saw both Need for Speed Shift and NOVA were spoken about during Apple's presentation.  These are optimized versions of their pre-existing iPhone apps.  I have a feeling that the word optimized means more expensive as well.  After all a publisher like EA would be cannibalizing its own market if it put out fully featured games like NFS: Shift on the iPad and only charged 10 dollars for it.  Who would pay 30 or 40 dollars for a DS or PSP version when they could pay $10 for the iPad version that has a bigger screen and an accelerometer?  I think the end result is that we will quickly see the beginning of the 20 - 30 dollar game on the iPad.

For both Apple and the developers this would be a huge win.  Apple receives their cut and the larger developers ensure they can get a ton of the money without any chance for a used game market.  This is the way things are going in the console world as well, although we are not there quite yet.  Look at how poorly the PSP Go was received (not really a big surprise).  One thing the large developers should worry about is Apple’s inability to stop piracy on the iPhone and iPod Touch.  What is their plan to stop it for the iPad?  I'm sure one additional revenue stream the iPad developers will want to cash in on are in-app purchases.  In fact, that's one way that developers can cut down (or make up for) piracy.  Time will tell but I think it is very important that you all go into buying an iPad very carefully.  I am nearly positive that we will start seeing $20 "optimized" iPad games being delivered to the App Store as soon as the device comes out.  And I think that number is sure to rise in the future.

Apple iPad, Pros and Cons

By now you have likely read many things about Apple's new iPad.  I imagine some were good, some were bad.  I wanted to do an old Ben Franklin style list, listing its pros on one side and its cons on the other side.  Please let me know if I am missing something on either side.  The end result of this list should be able to tell us whether or not the device makes sense to buy.

Pros:

Interface is extremely similar to the iPhone/iPod Touch.  This means that most of the 50 million odd owners of one of these devices should be able to pick it up and go.
The App Store is the iPad's single biggest strength.  No company has a finer base of programs (or nearly as many) available to its end users.  Apparently 140,000 or so of those App Store programs will be able to be loaded up right away on the upcoming iPad.
Large screen.  In fact, its 10 inches makes it larger than most netbook screens, portable DVD players and mobile video game players
10 hour battery life is pretty decent.
Big developer buy-in - It was good to see both Gameloft and EA demo their stuff during today's presentation
Ability to read books, newspapers and magazines in a simple format.
Built in speaker and microphone

Cons:

No multitasking.  In fact, its Safari browser seemingly doesn’t support multiple websites being pulled up
No flash.  Flash is a major part of the web.  Without it being included, you will likely be missing a lot.
No removable battery.  When it dies completely, so does the iPad.
It's too big to easily carry in one hand.  1.5 pounds can weigh you down after an hour or so of reading.
Questionable endurance.  How long can a device that only weighs 1.5 pounds take abuse?  One of its selling points is that kids could use this for their textbooks in school.  I don't think I am going to allow Little Bobby Butterfingers near this $500 piece of technology.
No HDMI port, no camera, no built in phone
Screen does not use 16:9 aspect ratio (as many videos now are) resulting in a black box on each side when they are  played.

Where does that leave us?  On the ropes I think.  Personally I think I'll hold off for a while and see what happens.  What are you going to do?

It is finally official - The iPad - Pictures and details

2:19 PM ET - Pricing announced - Starting at $499  -  Still a bit high in my opinion since this really isn't a necessity for anyone.



Read on for how we get to this price.



Looking like a giant iPhone/iPod, the iPad is pictures above with Apple CEO Steve Jobs.



Grant Theft Auto :Chinatown Wars would be pretty sweet on this thing.



Steve showing the iPad's thin frame.



It literally is a big iPhone/iPod Touch.  No extra buttons?

Jobs just quoted iPad specs - “It’s 0.5-inches thin, weighs just 1.5 pounds. Thinner and lighter than any netbook. 9.7-inch IPS" display.”  1 Ghz processo - will come with flash memory of 16, 32 or 64 GB and the biggest thing - Jobs is claiming it has a 10 hour battery life!

Apps:

Virtually every app will be able to run straight out of the box.    Jobs said, "We built the iPad to run virtually every one of these apps unmodified right out of the box. We can do that in two ways — do it with pixel for pixel accuracy in a black box, or we can pixel-double and run them in full-screen".



We will be continuing to update as details come out.



NOVA shown in full screen, optomized for the iPad.  Some attendees are reporting it to be choppy though.  Maybe while Gameloft optimizes the fps, they can work on its horrible story.



NFS: Shift being shown next.  Who wants to bet these optimized versions of games will cost far moe than $9.99.  Otherwise companies like ea would be eating away their profits on other systems.



Apple also announced a new app that will deliver books digitally, iBooks.  Screenshot below shows how you will keep track of your book purchases.



2:13 PM ET - Jobs reports that every model will have Wi Fi and some will even include 3g (alright! a mobile plan (eye roll).  250 MB per month for $14.99 and unlimited data for $29.99 on AT&T network.

2:17 PM ET - 3g models are unlocked - GSM only.  Technically that means T-Mobile will work  as well? No contract with AT&T - prepaid.

All pictures from gdgt.com

gdgt.com/

Wednesday Apple iPad/iSlate Announcement

Click here for today's live coverage of the iPhone iPad event.

I have be silent up until now about the upcoming announcement by Apple.  I didn't and still don't think there is much of anything anyone can add to all of the rumors coming out about everyone's favorite Cupertino company.  That is except Steve Jobs who is apparently going to be giving his presentation around 10 AM PST/1 PM ET tomorrow.  Will Apple announce an iPad or iSlate?  iDon't know (puns are so fun).  What I do know is that I doubt this device is going to change the face of the world as we know it.  Hmm...a device that is 7 or 8 inches in size that doesn't fit in your pocket.  I thought we were eliminating additional devices, not adding to the list.  That means that unless you can roll it up, you can add it to the list of things you carry around with you every day,   Personally, I can't see myself taking it anywhere because I don't carry a laptop bag everyday anymore and I am not going to start in order to have a new game system/app/reading device.

One thing is for sure.  The announcement needs to be huge.  Even Jobs 50 Billion ("...if you annualize our quarterly revenue") number means nothing to the analysts if tomorrow's announcement does not meet expectations.  So for Jobs sake, I hope they are able to come up huge.  To tell you the truth, I wish they stood up there tomorrow and said that they would be releasing OS 4.0 for the iPhone.  It will now include multitasking.  That is all I care about.  Then again, I guess I'm not the target market for a $400, 8 inch tablet that you can draw on.

Rest assured, we will keep you updated about all of the exciting things coming out of Cupertino tomorrow.  Maybe I'll even get my multitasking.  One can dream, right?

Has Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars set the bar too high?

After doing the review of GTA: Chinatown Wars I wanted to move on and start reviewing the next game in my queue.  The problem was, I also really wanted to continue playing GTA: CW and there was another issue - I felt like any game I played immediately following GTA: CW wouldn't be as good.  I knew I would find myself comparing that game in some way to GTA.  That's a problem.  While I think it's important for a game to be compared to what else is out there, I think as a reviewer you need to be able to put aside the last game you played and come at the new game from a fresh angle.

So what I decided I was going to do is to play a lot more GTA:CW (I played 6 hours for our initial review) and get the game out of my system.  That was 2 days ago and besides doing some work, I haven't really put the game down.  I never played GTA:CW on either the DS or the PSP so the game and its storyline were new to me.  I kept finding things I missed the first time around.  I continued waiting for a mistake, or an issue to arise, or the game not to live up to the expectations I have set but it's just wasn't happening.

No matter, I will be starting a new game tonight.  And when I'm done with GTA: CW, I'm hoping what I feel is some sort of catharsis.  That I have been able to get this unsettled feeling out of my system.  The feeling that no matter what game I play, I will constantly be comparing it to GTA in some way and it will come up short.  Then I think about games like Doodle Jump and Rope N' Fly 2 and realize that those games were great for reasons that have nothing to do with GTA.  Whew.  I guess what I'm saying then is to WATCH OUT big developers that charge $9.99 for your action games.  If your latest and greatest can't stand up to the best action game ever made for the iPhone, get ready to hear some feedback.  This time, I bet, it won't just be coming from me.

iPhone Developers are Missing Out on a Huge Demographic

I have a theory.  My theory is that iPhone and iPod Touch app developers, especially in certain genres, have no idea who their audience really is.  So many games I have played recently have seemingly been made for someone much younger than I am and I'm only 27.  My main issue has been that the stories don't make any sense; they leave the player with no emotional attachment to the characters, they are slim to begin with and are generally very bad.  This is the same whether you look at an RPG (Inotia 2 review coming shortly) or a FPS like NOVA or Modern Combat: Sandstorm.  It really bothers me that iPhone and iPod Touch developers feel their target market are the same high school kids that are playing console games.  After thinking about the age of the people I personally know who own an iPhone or iPod Touch,  I believe these developers are trying to appeal to the wrong demographic, a much younger demographic.  In fact, after doing some research, I know they are.

Fortunately there was already a report by a company named AdMob which showed some age demographics of the average iPhone and iPod Touch owner.  This information would help get me part of the way towards an answer.  It would assist me in figuring out if iPhone and iPod Touch users are just high school kids and young adults that play games that have bad storylines like Halo, or if instead my hypothesis was correct, the users belong to an older demographic that would prefer to play a game like Deus Ex or Dragons Age: Origins, with a rich storyline and setting.  Before reading the demographics from AdMob, I was sure that nearly every iPhone owner would be older than 18 and that though the iPod Touch demographic would skew more towards younger people, the 18+ demgraophic would remain a large proportion of its users.

After going through Admob's numbers I felt somewhat validated.   94% of iPhone owners are over the age of 18 and an astounding 74% of them are over the age of 25.  On the other hand, the iPod Touch user base is nearly HALF (47%) composed of 13-17 year olds.  Only 31% of its users are over the age of 25.  I was taken aback by how many younger people have an iPod Touch.   After thinking about it, I realized maybe I was wrong.  “Maybe”, I thought, “there is a good reason for so many developers creating games for a younger demographic.”  Before giving up, I went back to Google to continue my research.  I needed to find out how many iPhones are sold compared to iPod Touch devices.

In March of 2009 (the most recent comparison I could find) the number of iPhones sold stood at 17 million while the number of iPod Touch units sold was around 13 million.  That means that of the 30 million iPod Touch and iPhone units sold, a bit more than 7 million were purchased by/for 13-17 year olds.  Out of all of the units sold, 16.6 million have been sold to people over the age of 25.  Obviously, not all of these people are gamers but a large portion of the public now games.  In fact, one recent report suggests that 53% of all adults play video games of some kind.  Since there isn’t a good report that shows how many users buy games on the App Store, I will improvise a bit.  Since iPhone and iPod Touch users are usually more technological inclined, I think 60% of them playing games on their device is a fairly reasonable guesstimate.  Using 60% as a basis, we can extrapolate that of those 16.6 million adults ages 25+ that use an iPhone or iPod Touch, 9.6 million play games.  Finally we have a hard number.

So if nearly 10 million people age 25-65 playing iPhone and iPod Touch games, when are games going to arrive for that demographic?  Just because we are older (I am part of this group), doesn’t mean we don't want to play a FPS or a role playing game.  By creating games that have a more robust storyline, better character development, etc;  a developer could meet a target demographic of 25-65 year olds that isn’t being reached by the games currently in the App Store.  And who wouldn’t want to reach that demographic?  After all, the people in this demographic are wealthier and therefore have more disposable income.  Personally, I’d gladly pay 10-15 dollars for a game on the iPhone that when I beat it, I feel something other than relief.  I want to win a game and feel like I want to talk with someone about the ending.  I want a story where I feel some kind of emotion.  I want a story that draws me in.  I want it on my iPhone.  Who's with me?

References:

metrics.admob.com/2009/06/ipod-touch-users-younger-than-iphone-users/

pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/11--Cheats-for-Video-Game-Marketers.aspx - Slide 6

itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/3/18/apple-sold-30-million-iphones-ipod-touch-launch/

iPhone and iPod Touch - Games of the Year (2009)

Though this site hasn't been around too long, this reviewer has been playing iPhone games for quite a while.  In fact, I have probably logged hundreds of hours in iPhone gameplay this year (much to my wife's chagrin).  All of that gameplay allowed me to get a good feel for what is out there and to come up with a list of the iPhone Gamer Blog's top 5 games of the year.

Number 5:  Boxed In 2  - (Dennis Mengelt, $1.99)

Boxed In 2 offers puzzle loving gamers hours and hours of fun.  The full review can be found here but a shorter review is as follows: If you are a gamer with an appetite for intelligent gameplay, this is a must buy.

Number 4: Baseball Superstars 2010 -  (Gamevil, $4.99)

I played this game more than any other game this year.  It's story mode allows you to create a player and follow him through 7 years of his career while accumulating stats, trying to make more money and upgradiing his abilities much like an RPG.  The only down side of this game, playing 7 years with 30+ games per year just doesn't seem long enough.  If you are a sports fan of any type, this is an absolute must buy.  The game also includes a ton of additional modes as well and is just an absolute treat for the price.

Number 3: Need for Speed Shift  (EA Mobile, $9.99)

NFS Shift beats out all other racing games with its great graphics, fun setting and hours of gameplay.  See the full review for additional information.

Number 2: Rope N' Fly 2 - (Robert Szeleney, $1.99)



The first Rope N' Fly literally gave me hours of enjoyment.  In that version you literally were only able to play one mode.  The idea: You have 30 seconds to swing skyscraper to skyscraper with a rope (much like Spiderman) and get as far as you could.  If it sounds simple, it is, but it is also a wonderful time waster to try and beat your best time.  In Rope N' Fly 2, many more modes have been added, the graphics have been upgraded, music has been included and there is an easily accessible online screen that compares your scores to others around the world.  The end result, a game that is even more addictive.  No matter who you are.  Buy this game right now.

Game of the Year 2009:  Ragdoll Blaster (Backflip Studios, $1.99)

You like puzzles?  You like ragdoll physics?  Do you like shooting people out of a cannon?  I thought so!  This game is single handedly the game that I have shown to my friends to make them buy an iPhone.  A simple idea that uses physics based puzzles that you solve by shooting people out of cannons.  The music is perfect, the graphics are clean and the game is addictive!  My only complaint is the game ends much too soon.  For $1.99 you can go download the best game of the year.

Summary

What can we make of this list?  Small studios rule the day!  While one huge publisher is included here, the indie game makers are are showing that creativity and new ideas can still beat huge advertising budgets.  2010 looks to be yet another great year for iPhone and iPod game development and iPhone Gamer Blog will be right here calling it as we see it all year long.