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Where do you think mobile gaming is going, with touch and non-touch screen devices out there? What is going to be the next great thing in mobile games? 28th WEEK

Arjan OlsderOwner MobileGamesBlog.com

02.07.09 at 18:08

When it comes to touch screen devices, most vendors will probably move to multitouch as well as tactile feedback. Yet, many consumers and professionals still hate touch screens. This means the market will probably keep supporting both. New technologies will however make the screens perform better and probably allow alternative shapes to stimulate designs and fragmentation.

Lawrence Cosh-IshiiRepresentative Director at Mobikyo and Co-Founder at Wireless Watch Japan

02.07.09 at 15:14

Chokkan Games, using the handset as a Wii-like controller, with simple titles ranging from boxing, bowling, driving, shooting, fishing and golf (etc.) has been increasingly popular here in Japan for some years already. The evolution of networked multiplayer games, with real-time location info, is now well underway. Mobagatown, Mobile Game Town, managed to turn free a Flash games hook into an SNS play, with virtual goods model, and is reporting over 500M page views per day with annual arpu of about $10 per user on their 15M members!

Jonathan MacDonaldSenior Consultant at OgilvyOne and mobile advertising evangelist

02.07.09 at 00:37

I envisage augmented reality being the big thing in gaming over the next few years. Using physical, real-world environments layered with digital additions will accelerate the gaming industry to a promising future.

Christopher KassulkeCEO HandyGames, mobile game publisher

02.07.09 at 00:36

Why does everyone search for the next big thing in mobile games? Develop for the here and now! Mobile Games is a huge business already. We see new possibilities and features in the phones everyday and they will be used by the publishers and developers. Users will buy different devices (including touch screen, accelerometer, 3D Chip, etc.) but they always want the best on the handset they own and not all consumers have an iPhone. What the market need is a good user experience. The game quality is very good but buying them can be a real problem for any users.

Mark LinderGlobal Client Leader at WPP

02.07.09 at 00:36

What is a game but a contest to win coordinated voluntarily with real stakes and a winner and loser at the end. But \"game\" also has a darker side, including that animals or humans may become \"gamed\" or manipulated or \"game\" to put on someone else\'s dinner table. The \"next great thing\" may not be socially civilized -- it may be a multiplayer game used by insurgents to topple society.

Do you think mobile advertising will be accepted less by normal users, than it is by early adopters?27th WEEK

Sven HallingVP Marketing and Games Services, End2End Content Services

23.06.09 at 09:44

I think acceptance level for advertizing on the mobile will increase as we get into more mainstream audience. Us early adopters, we are used to it being free from ads on the mobile screen since there has not been any until recently, whereas people that are joining the game now do not have that bias, and they are used to ads on the web. And, people that start going on the web with their mobiles today are more likely to have iphones or other big screen phones where ads can blend in well without occupying too much space.

Volker HirschEVP Corporate Development and General Counsel, Connect 2 Media

23.06.09 at 09:42

The perceived value must be right, then user uptake will be there. Because the mobile phone is (for the time being) still seen as a very personal device, the thresholds are arguably higher than for less personal broadcast-type media. However, as sentiment in this respect shifts, the reservations of users will likely evaporate. That is, IF advertisers get it, namely manage to formulate marketing messages that are useful to the user - and they can be useful either by providing an added value to other products (e.g. specials, sponsored content, etc) or be a value in themselves (either as a service or through sheer entertainment or information factor). It is a lot to get right. However, one must not forget how young the medium is (the mass market web only really took off once flat-rate broadband hit the masses) and there will be ample development and growth to come!

Ulf MorysFinance director at Ubisoft, formerly Gameloft

22.06.09 at 21:27

No, as data pricing must come down before mobile browsing really goes mass market. If the data price is of no concern, the mass market user will not bother,

Russell BuckleyGlobal Chairman at MMA, VP Global Alliances Admob Europe

22.06.09 at 21:26

The key to successful and effective mobile advertising is to find ways that add value to the people who might see it and engage with them effectively in the subsequent dialogue and this applies to “normal” users and early adopters alike. This might be a matter of providing them with timely or interesting and relevant information, entertaining them in some way, or access to special deals on products and services that are relevant to them and that they wouldn’t otherwise have heard about.

At this stage, much mobile advertising is also used to signpost interesting new content, as we all discover the mobile web, much as we discovered the PC web 15 years ago.

Of course, as the channel matures and the industry gets better at context and relevancy in our communication, mobile advertising will serve its purpose better. But we’ve made great strides as an industry in the last few years and things will get even better in the future.

Jonathan MacDonaldSenior Consultant at OgilvyOne and mobile advertising evangelist

22.06.09 at 21:25

I think mobile advertising will only be accepted if it is re-defined as useful or entertaining content. For \'normal\' users this is even more needed. The work needed is on the meaning and methodology. We need standards, not standardization.

Vassili le Moigneformer Area Manager Microsoft Mobile Communications

22.06.09 at 16:03

Better accepted. Advanced users are fussy while normal users are much
more complacent. Ads are part of their web lives. They will probably
interact with them more at the beginning before their eyes learn not
to watch them even if they see them.

Arjan OlsderOwner MobileGamesBlog.com

22.06.09 at 15:56

I think the acceptance will depend on the media and medium used. As long
as it is not obtrusive, and the reason for it is clear, they will not
have a problem with it. They might even be willing to pay for getting
rid of the advertising IF they like what they get in return.

Andrew GrillBusiness Development Gigafone

22.06.09 at 15:53

A recent study I saw, concluded after a mobile advertising campaign showed that users want “free stuff” – such as free minute and content. I think this is true of all users – early adopters and late majority. The problem is we keep wanting to use the word ADVERTISING which carries a large amount of baggage. When the industry works out how to crack the nut and provide people with things that are relevant and useful, we will no longer need to offer freebies and will instead offer them “sponsored information” that is useful, and welcome.

How do you think mobile phones will look like in 10 years?26th WEEK

Mark LinderGlobal Client Leader at WPP

20.06.09 at 22:39

Design differences will be SUBTLE. Because so much of the category will have converted to smartphones, industrial design will be about as different as PCs are from each other today. More phones will be touch-screen-slabs, with fewer buttons, and either virtual or pull-out keyboards. A real challenge for designers.

Ulf MorysFinance director at Ubisoft, formerly Gameloft

20.06.09 at 22:39

No such thing as \"a mobile phone\" will exist. There will be a highly integrated, portable device that assures connection of other peripheric devices to \"the cloud\" via a standardized protocol. The real funtionality will be in the peripheric devices that connect to the cloud via thi \"modem\" - be it voice call functionality, displays (ebook-reader), music or whatever. The variety of these devices will be even larger than today\'s variety of mobile phones. My guess.....

Volker HirschEVP Corporate Development and General Counsel, Connect 2 Media

18.06.09 at 21:57

We\'ll have fully converged devices, most of which will either be mobile (if small enough) or connected via the cloud with easy biometric ID. As to phone features: the most important bit is, I think, the input, and that will be dead easy as they will be triggered by natural input (voice, gesture), they will react to their surroundings (environment, ambience, other devices) and the phone-bit will have ear-piece & mic by way of ear rings, rings, etc which will pick up the aforementioned voice/gesture-controls. There will be add-ons for specific bits one may need/want (pico-projectors, foldable screens, sunglasses with projectors; exist already).

Oh, and they will do time travel and the ear-piece will double as a babel-fish!

Monty MunfordCreator, Montys Gaming and Wireless Outlook

18.06.09 at 10:45

With any luck they will be the same as they were 10 years ago. Bulky, no features, but with the wonderful ability to call or text somebody from most places in the world.

Unfortunately, for those who can afford it they will probably be secreted on or under the skin and will be a combination of devices that we currently lug around in our pockets and bags. In other words, it will be the beginning of the end.... or, as the Stranglers once sang: The rise of the robots.

Andrew GrillBusiness Development Gigafone

18.06.09 at 10:41

The iPhone has been a game changer and I think that \'iPhone\' has become a euphamism for \'how phones should be\'. I\'m not saying phones in 10 years will look like the iPhone, but they will have similar traits.

Simple to use - even my 3 year old can pick up an iPhone and start using it

Simple buying experience - the Apple App store, while not perfect gives us a glimpse of how seamless this experience should be.

Painless and unlimited web browsing -who would have thought that if you give people an easy to use web interface with no fear of bill shock they would consume more?

This is the future.

Vassili le Moigneformer Area Manager Microsoft Mobile Communications

18.06.09 at 10:30

We will al be so old by then.... I don\'t think we will call them phone any more as most likely, the phone part will just be the stuff stuffed in our ears. As for the rest, they will be most likely be the same size as today phone but much lighter (50g, mostly of battery) and I certainly hope they will have side by side removable screens so that you can be on email and do a phone call at the same time without having to do gymastics. My son will love that when I will be checking on him then :-)

Russell BuckleyGlobal Chairman at MMA, VP Global Alliances Admob Europe

18.06.09 at 10:29

In 10 years, we’ll be well into the post PC era and laptops will seem as quaint and nostalgic as the ginormous brick phones of the 80s. We may even have blown ourselves up, been decimated by a new virus (manmade or otherwise) or even be in a post-Singularity world, in which case, all bets are off.

But assuming that the world progresses without a major Black Swan event (big assumption!), mobiles as visible, handheld devices will have disappeared. They’ll be replaced by a tiny ear piece, an equally tiny hand controller (let’s visualize that as a ring, for the sake of illustration) and a set of contact lenses or glasses, which will allow us to see three views, by simply changing our eyes’ focus; the web, the web overlayed onto the real world and the real world if anyone ever wants to go au naturel for some quirky reason.

Controlling these virtual mobiles will be by a mix of gestures and haptics, with a voice option for those of you reading this who never got the hang of fluent gesturespeak. A common sight will be middle aged people wondering around twitching, waving their arms around and bumping into things as they try to make a phone call. The froody 20 year olds will be in total command without apparently moving a muscle.

By that time, it’ll be impossible to live any kind of mainstream life without a mobile. Banking, payments, shopping, access to your house and car – all will be via your virtual mobile. All interfacing with Government bill be done via mobile too, including daily mandatory voting on key issues of the day as representative democracy is replaced by Direct Democracy – a result of the repeated parliamentary scandals of the Blair and succeeding Governments.

Over 50’s mainly opt to live in sheltered accommodation, which offer largely tech free environments, where they can be seen hunched over old-style netbooks playing Solitaire and wondering why the kids of today never reply to their emails.

Arjan OlsderOwner MobileGamesBlog.com

18.06.09 at 09:59

I bet on implants. A microphone in our jawbone, a speaker in our ears
and a HUD in our eyes, the whole thing powered by brainwaves and our
bodies suffering from tumours caused by the radiation. Ok, maybe that is
the phone in about 100 years.

Jonathan MacDonaldSenior Consultant at OgilvyOne and mobile advertising evangelist

18.06.09 at 09:43

I think in 10 years we will not see phones as phones at all. I suspect that all machines and screens will be inter-connected so the whole concept of a standalone device will be invalidated. I am eager to have the same capability on any device, as much as I am eager for storage to be in the cloud - drawn down from wherever you are.

How do you see Apple’s mobile future now, after the release of Apple 3G S?25th WEEK

Volker HirschEVP Corporate Development and General Counsel, Connect 2 Media

15.06.09 at 23:17

From developers\' perspectives, the big thing about the iPhone was the \"1 device\" rule and the SDK (providing for the ease of developing for it). So the big news was not so much the \"new\" iPhone but the release of OS 3.0. And it is here that Apple has again been upping the ante a little by the inclusion of all these little improvements. They continue where they left it: not revolutionizing feature sets but incorporating them in revolutionary ways (i.e. make them actually usable across a wide range of developers). The multitude of apps and services available (Google Voice Search, Yelp, Sky+, ... anyone?) have been an eye-opener for so many. They\'re evangelizing the space, and do it well - still.

Ulf MorysFinance director at Ubisoft, formerly Gameloft

10.06.09 at 14:44

The 3GS is basically a \"maintenance update\" - a lot of stuff, but nothing revolutionary. Maybe I missed something, but from what I saw, TomTom said nothing about the business model they want to use for navigation - it will be interesting to see if subscription services would be able to catch on in the Apps Store with such a service. Personally, I still wait for the iBlette (touch screen tablet) - I just can\'t believe that Apple is so successfully in music, apps and video/films .... and then leaves the books&magazine space to Amazon with their Kindle without a fight ! Personally, I\'d be more than pleased if I could subscribe to my local newspaper in digital format on a user-friendly device.... and judging from recent news from the US, newspaper publishers must be hard pressed to look for business models to replace their old way of doing thing.

Jonathan MacDonaldSenior Consultant at OgilvyOne and mobile advertising evangelist

10.06.09 at 14:43

I see no spectacular change with the \'s\' release - just a standard iteration. I expect it\'s a minor release in comparison for what else is coming. Apple have dragged a future device into the present and I love watching the other players try and catch up :)

Andrew GrillBusiness Development Gigafone

10.06.09 at 14:42

Just as Gordon Brown has managed to stay in the game with a small tweak to his OS, Apple seems to have kept the interest alive in the 3rd generation of essentially the same device. I think the iPhone version 4 (iPhone 4G?) has to offer a step change in usability and form factor to keep people interested. I doubt there will be queues around the block to get the 3GS in the way there were for the iPhone 2G. The Apple model seems to be the standard that other manufacturers need to design for, and even though Apple seem to have “phoned it in” with the 3GS, they really need to pull one out of the bag for the 4G. I think the iPhone has become a euphemism for “the way phones should be”.

Mark ChallinorManaging director at g8wave, Board member at INMA

10.06.09 at 14:40

Apple forge ahead for world domination! You have to hand it to them, great marketing tactics. And great for the mobile industry too, I would argue. Ultimately, it makes it all easier for the masses to spend more money/time on mobile, makes the net more accessible as people switch to touch screen technology more and more...ad we all know the benefits/spin offs of that. It must be good for all?!

Vassili le Moigneformer Area Manager Microsoft Mobile Communications

10.06.09 at 14:40

Apple failed to generate a Waoooh factor with its new phone and I did not see an improvement either in the archaic app store process for mobile developers. The lower price and existing i-pod users in search of an upgrade for their devices should still make it a good seller (in volumes) for xmas though not a blockbuster outside the core Apple fans. The stock however might suffer as lower profit margins - a new thing at Apple - need to be factored in.

With this, in mind, Apple will remain a niche player in a growing market which is not necessarily a bad position to be in when you know how to cross sell. Apple could see significant gains if its competitors, mostly Nokia, keep on missing the mark in the smartphone market with bad devices or crazy prices.

My prediction: market share slightly down by year end, mostly outside the US, Apple stock down by 20%

Mark LinderGlobal Client Leader at WPP

10.06.09 at 10:45

Is it about 3G S - or is the impact really about the $99 \"entry\" iPhone? Or is it about upgrading existing customers with the 3.0 O/S for free? Apple is reducing barriers to entry, and taking care of existing users. This is good, basic marketing.

Arjan OlsderOwner MobileGamesBlog.com

10.06.09 at 10:26

Apple has agian released an iPhone in more or less the same form factor.
Developers will be facing the first bits of fragmentation now, but for
iPhone lovers the device will be a must have again. I expect a lot of
consumers will sell their old 3G\'s and that will probably stimulate the
number of users that will start using the App Store. I wonder how long
Apple can hang on to this strategy though...

Russell BuckleyGlobal Chairman at MMA, VP Global Alliances Admob Europe

10.06.09 at 10:10

Apple have already sent shock waves through the industry with their first foray into mobile. Their share of mobile web and app usage is completely out of proportion to their market share.

3G S has eradicated the omissions of the original iPhone making it simply the best mass market device available, by some considerable way.

At the same time, the app developer community have embraced the simplicity and effectiveness of the iPhone. It\'s worth noting that this was always a weakness in the Apple computer franchise - as Steve Ballmer said it\'s all about \"developers, developers, developers\".

Harnessing the developer coomunity is key to success and their creativity is already showing us how the vision of the mobile being the remote control to our lives might play out. Who can\'t love the Zipcar app which allows you to use your iPhone to beep your car rental\'s horn to identify it for you?

I think micropayments for apps will also be a game changer.

How do you view Nokia OVI, its launch, and OVI moving forward?24th WEEK

Lawrence Cosh-IshiiRepresentative Director at Mobikyo and Co-Founder at Wireless Watch Japan

04.06.09 at 13:03

It's been a long time coming since the first announcement was made back in mid 2007. Unfortunate that, by the initial reviews, there seems to be a rather limited content library selection along with lack of discovery for easy access and certain 'performance' issues. Trust the folks with vested interest to gear-up going forward as balance between concept and execution is always critical, the model is proven so certainly they will need to work through stocking the digital shelves and making delivery on the promise.

Arjan OlsderOwner MobileGamesBlog.com

03.06.09 at 17:50

Ovi\'s launch was terrible. A much anticipated app store competitor that
clearly didn\'t got enough QA before launch. Another sad detail is that
most of my friends that own a Nokia still haven\'t discovered the
service. I recon new devices with tight Ovi integration will help the
platform to seize their bit of the market. Nokia (and the developers)
just has to give the service enough time to grow.

Mark LinderGlobal Client Leader at WPP

03.06.09 at 11:41

Load testing failed to anticipate the demand. However OVI\'s success depends on the value it brings to the device buyer. At the very least the store is important, maybe even the anchor for OVI in the long run. The question is, can Nokia bring other services which are a better value than the open market of internet developers? They are covered either way.

Ulf MorysFinance director at Ubisoft, formerly Gameloft

02.06.09 at 22:09

No firsthand experience yet with OVI - but believing most anything I hear in the relevant blogs. Sounds very much like my first encounter with the \"new\" nGage experience a year back. It\'s like the question I\'ve been asking myself for years on end looking at the t-zones portal: why isn\'t there a manager responsible for the overall user satisfaction with a portal & service in big companies who has the last word in everything ? If the guys earning 6 digits yearly euro paychecks were forced to spend the day with their proper products, the products & services churned out by there companies would look differently.

Jonathan MacDonaldSenior Consultant at OgilvyOne and mobile advertising evangelist

02.06.09 at 15:52

There are a number of challenges that Ovi has - but then again, any new entrant can suffer from issues that are there to be improved. We should not be too judgmental on new things due to this. However, with Ovi, the better the content, the easier it works and the fuller the offering - the more effective it will be.

Vassili le Moigneformer Area Manager Microsoft Mobile Communications

02.06.09 at 12:42

Personnally, I welcome the store in the sense that it bring more choice to the end users and will help them do more with their phone, but I still deplore the complexity of developping in a easy and scalable way for the Symbian platform which, in the big picture, might be a bigger issue than application distribution.

The OVI launch really marks the start of the great chess game between the operators and Nokia to define who will ultimatly retain the relationship with the mobile customers moving forward in the mobile software age: Nokia (Google, Apple, Microsoft,...), the app suppliers or the operator. The smaller operators will be happy (in the short term) to let the the OVI store in in return for a cut, but the big guys out there will see it as a direct attack on what they see as their revenue stream from the end users. I expect a lot of backroom deals on device supplies and prices in which the customer\'s good will not always be top of mind... Ultimatly, the winner between all the app stores will be seen first in retail dominated countries such as Russia where the consumer can choose what they do on their phone without the interference of the operators or the manufacturers: a lesson in free economy coming from Russia!.

Mark ChallinorManaging director at g8wave, Board member at INMA

02.06.09 at 12:42

Most offerings like this are starting to blur into one and the same...ie synch your calendar, share your photos and videos etc. seems to be the standard offering from all new launches like this. Nokia need to focus on what they do best in the offering and promote the hell out of it. They need to find their USP here or risk becoming “just another launch”.

That said, it is indeed another launch in our industry where it makes the use of mobile more attractive, apparently easy to use and gives a whole bunch of reasons why you should want to use mobile and keep it with you constantly. In that light it must be good for our industry

Monty MunfordCreator, Montys Gaming and Wireless Outlook

02.06.09 at 12:16

The OVI launch has been like the Titanic in reverse. It has already sunk, but it won\'t be long before it recovers/is recovered. It seems that 2009 is Beat Up Nokia time and its delayed roll-out and subsequent sinking has delighted Nokia\'s critics. Cheap shots.

Privately, Nokia management love the iPhone and they\'re doing all they can to catch up before that 35% market share is further threatened. OVI won\'t harm that and may even mark a watershed when everybody stopped going iPhone insane.

Moving forward? It will move. Forward.

Andrew GrillBusiness Development Gigafone

02.06.09 at 12:09

Nokia Ovi needs to make the discovery, payment and download of applications as seamless as the App store to compete. Anything else is just a waste of everyone\'s time.