Apr 4, 2008

ICE 08: Panel Argues Opportunities Offered By iPhone, Flash Lite

The ICE 08 Conference that took place in Toronto last week had a panel discussion on the challenges and future of the mobile game industry. The iPhone and Flash Lite were a part of the panel discussion with a few positives being discussed.

The panel were asked if the Flash Lite platform offered the solution to mobile's current woes.

Grunwoldt from Nokia said "I think it's a really interesting development platform -- very unique, relatively easy to do things that look very nice -- but I don't think it solves any of the problems that we have discussed. It's really just ‘another platform'. It doesn't solve any of the problems of discovery or purchase process."

Matt Gillis (Senior VP, Capcom Interactive) recounted his experience of the way new technologies are disseminated by carriers. While the technology department might want every new technology, such as Flash Lite, in every new phone they release, the sales department want new handsets to market very fast. So while marketing might announce that the carrier offers Flash Lite, perhaps only 9 handsets that make it to market, out of the tens a carrier offers, will have it.

Despite their opinions of the iPhone and Flash Lite, the panel did overall have a positive outlook for the mobile games industry in general. When asked if they felt that things had reached a status quo and if "Tetris was going to sell the most forever" Grunwolt argued "Original IP will eventually take it down."

"If you can create something compelling, the market will decide," he concluded.

You can read the complete report here

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