Apple’s iPhone and Touch to drive mobile games market
The global mobile games market is expected to grow to $11.7 billion by 2014 due to the increasing popularity of Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, according to a series of new reports from DFC Intelligence.
Over the next five years, sales for games on the iPhone and iPod Touch are forecast to account for a quarter of all portable game software sales, which is expected to be the key driver of the overall mobile entertainment market.
David Cole, a DFC analyst, said: “The dedicated portable game systems from companies like Nintendo and Sony are still expected to lead the market, but it appears growth for these devices has peaked. The platforms from Apple are expected to be responsible for the bulk of market growth over the next few years.”
The latest DFC reports found that users are playing more games on their mobile handsets, with 54% of Americans and 69% of Europeans claiming to have played a game on their mobile phone in the last year.
Out of the 8,000 respondents, 45% of Americans and 36% of Europeans have also paid to purchase an application for their mobile phone.
The App Store continues to be the most popular place for users to purchase applications, with 15% of respondents already owning an iPhone of iPod Touch, compared to 29% that own a Nintendo DS.
Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch both feature non-game related content but games are expected to make up around 23% of application sales on the iPhone shortly.