Disqus
According to the new report from Juniper Research titled “Mobile Games: Subscription & Download 2007-2012 (Fourth Edition)”, the North American market for mobile games is expected to rise from less than $800 million in 2007 to more than $3 billion by 2012.
At present, around 18 million Americans download or rent mobile games at least once per year, but these numbers are expected to increase sharply over the next five years due to factors such as improvements in the user interface, all-you-can-eat data packages and the introduction of free trial periods for subscription-based games.
Report author Dr Windsor Holden argues that “try before you buy” strategy not only makes the customer more comfortable about purchasing a particular title, but also makes him or her more familiar with mobile gameplay and provide further encouragement for the consumer to seek out additional titles in the future.
However, the report cautions that the poor marketing of mobile titles means that many customers are frequently unaware of new releases.
Other findings from the report include:
- The proportion of ad-funded mobile game downloads in North America will reach 30% by 2012
- Despite the growth in revenues, North America will continue to trail both the China/Far East region and Western Europe over the next five years
- The increasing sophistication of high-end games combined with improved form factor in handsets should enable publishers to increase retail price points
As always, more information is available from Juniper Research’s website.
About The Author
Dusan Belic
Dusan has been using smartphones since their introduction and is now following the latest trends in the industry. The "convergence" is what he's most excited about, and writing about it is the next logical thing to do. He thinks that using a smartphone is what everyone who cares about their time should do. In addition to his interests in mobile phones, Dusan also loves to experiment with the latest web and mobile 2.0 services. The idea of accessing and managing your information from any device no matter where you are simply amazes him. Whether it's an online to-do list, note taking service or a video sharing social network, he's there to try it out. He admits though, he's still searching for the ultimate web-based organizational tool, which "sings" perfectly with the mobile PIM application. Dusan used to run SymbianWatch.com which later became part of IntoMobile. He lives in Serbia, South-East Europe, from where he edits the site on a daily basis.
