Mobile games market 'likely to boom'

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Mobile games market 'likely to boom'

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By Stephen Glass (Tuesday, 18th November 2008)

A recent report has predicted that the retail value of mobile phone games could almost double within the next five years.

According to the study by Juniper Research, the industry could grow from $5.4 billion to $10 billion by 2013, reports Mobile Europe.

The arrival of the iPhone and the easy download of applications and games through Apples apps store has been pointed to as a catalyst for the growth of this sector.

However, the study revealed that game downloads have "flatlined" in North American and western Europe.

It attributed this to the limited on-portal revenue share for publishers, which has led many developers to abandon the games industry.

Juniper also noted that the marketing for games that can be played on mobile phones is inadequate.

Dr Windsor Holden, author of the report, said: "The revenue share offered by Apple to games publishers is incredibly attractive.

"The danger is that if operators do not respond with a similar business model, publishers faced with low margins may simply exit Java completely, thereby reducing consumer choice in the longer term," he added.

Despite this, Juniper is still confident that the industry will expand, particularly in regions such as the Indian sub-continent, Africa and the Middle East.

It found that China and the Far East will remain the largest regional market for games on handsets and predicted that global revenue from in-game advertising will increase "significantly" in the next five years.

In related news, online poker network RedKings has released a mobile version of its software which will enable fans of the card game to take part in real money and play money games while on the move.