N-Gage the phone, needs to become N-Gage the platform if Nokia has any chance in hell of succeeding

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) needs to stop being greedy. If it wants the N-Gage platform to succeed, then it needs to be just that, a platform. To illustrate my example better, let’s take the Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) versus Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) market share comparison:

Microsoft has over 90% of the PC Operating System market share. Apple, and people will argue this number, frankly I don’t care, hovers around 5%

Now when one decides to buy a computer, and one knows that games are going to be the most likely form of entertainment, then you choose to purchase a computer running the latest Microsoft operating system. Now why is this? A standard platform!

I can go to my local electronics store and grab all the parts I need, build a computer, slap Windows on it, and now I’m free to play any Windows game out there. That is the Microsoft model, low cost (operating system) high volume (millions of computers sold every year)

Now let’s see what Apple does, if you want to run Mac OS X, you need to buy an Apple computer. Period. No competing manufactures building similar devices, no software licensing of your operating system, if you want a Mac you have to buy it from Apple.

Nokia wants to enter the mobile gaming … again. The first N-Gage was a hilarious attempt and piss poor entry to market device. If you wanted to game on a cell phone you needed to buy an N-Gage. They took the Apple business model to the extreme. Now with the second N-Gage coming, they say that it will be a platform that can be run on several of the high end Nokia phones out now today, and that 5-7 devices at launch will be able to support N-Gage games. Still the Apple business model, but now they offer variety among the product SKU’s so we aren’t limited to the taco game phone.

Nokia needs to build the equivalent of Microsoft’s Direct X model. More importantly they need to let anyone run it. N-Gage should be a platform that runs on any mobile phone out there with enough horse power. Call it N-Gage 1.0 and begin a certification program, all phones that meet these specification are N-Gage 1.0 compatible. Now you’ve increased the market of people who would be interested in games. This in turn increases the interest of developers which make them want to publish more games for your new platform. All these new games are attracting attention and thus the platform grows.

Microsoft is going to release Windows Vista which has Direct X 10. That means if you have a Direct X 10 video card, you can play any of the games from generation 10 and below. Imagine how the future would be, when people go to buy a phone, they ask if it has wifi, bluetooth, and more importantly what N-Gage generation it is up to. In 2010 we’re up to N-Gage 4.0, all these advanced new features are out. I want to upgrade my N-Gage 2.0 phone now because I’m such a heavy mobile gamer. I can get a Nokia, Samsung, Motorola (NYSE: MOT); it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s N-Gage 4.0 compatible.
Nokia, just think a little about this, please. If you want to play Nintendo games you need a Nintendo console, if you want to play Sony PSP games, you need a PSP. If you want to even come close to making a dent into the mobile gaming arena then you need to make sure you can play your games on not only Nokia phones, but Samsung phones, Motorola phones, LG Phones.

Set up a conference with all the major phone manufactures, and sit them all in one room. Create a platform that can run on all of them and set up specifications. You’ll need Open GL acceleration, and this type of graphics chip, and then you will gain N-Gage 1.0 certification.

Cell phone games right now run on Java, and they blow chunks. Make a platform, make it become a standard, cooperate with the other phone manufactures, and then engage the developer community. This is the only recipe I see for success. Keeping the N-Gage a strictly Nokia platform would be like shooting yourself in the foot before a 5 km race.

Good luck trying, and you’ll need all the luck you can get, but my DS isn’t leaving my pocket any time soon.