eBooks may have overtaken games as the biggest category in the Apple App Store, but mobile gaming remains one of the biggest drivers of content revenue in the storefronts, and of technical innovation in the handsets. And it is the main target application underpinning the latest hardware and software moves by the giants ‘ new releases for Palm’s and Google’s developer kits; and rumored new devices from Sony and Microsoft.
Palm and Google both released new developer kits for their mobile web platforms, both with a focus on games. The beta version of Palm’s webOS Plug-In Development Kit (PDK) is now ready for developers to download, allowing them to create plug-ins using C or C++ to enhance existing webOS apps. In particular, this is geared to advanced graphics and the games market, and the upgrade was actually unveiled at last week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
The PDK will offer rich, high performance 3D graphics, ideal for more immersive games, according to Palm, and should encourage companies to port existing gaming apps over to webOS. Some of the early examples, ported using a pre-release version of PDK, include Need for Speed: Undercover, The Sims, Assassin’s Creed, Guitar Hero 5 Mobile and Giant Fighting Robots.
“We have both the developer tools and the hardware necessary for a world class gaming experience, and an impressive portfolio of webOS game titles from top-notch developers to show for it,” said Katie Mitic, senior VP of Palm’s product marketing, in a statement.
However, distributing the games will require new functionality built into an upcoming update for webOS, which should be available around midyear, once the PDK is in full release. And the real tools to compete against App Store are harder to create ‘ a huge user base, a full range of monetizing options including in-app purchasing, and a Wi-Fi only device to encourage heavy users.
Improved games were also a key focus of the third version of Google’s Android Native Developer Kit (NDK), released on Monday for Android 2.x. The NDK is gradually getting more functional ‘ it allows programmers to bypass the usual Java layer for Android development, and tap directly into the features of the phone, notably graphics power. Most Android apps run on Dalvik, Google’s own Java virtual machine (JVM), which has been criticized for being non-standard and dragging down the performance of the OS. This is becoming a critical consumer issue, as Android moves into high powered devices with PC-like functionality and graphics, such as the 1GHz Nexus One and HTC Desire.
With the NDK, Google is steadily allowing more direct communications with the hardware through the NDK interfaces, although a Dalvik app is still required. The biggest change in release 3 is support for the standard graphics interface, OpenGL ES 2.0, also supported by the iPhone 3GS.
Despite the importance of games to Apple, books now outnumber games in the App Store, for the first time since the storefront opened in mid-2008, according to Mobclix. The store contains more than 26,500 books, representing 18.6% of its 142,000 applications, while games are 17.6%, with 25,000 choices.
Both types of content have spawned mobile device categories of their own ‘ the handheld games consoles and the ereaders ‘ but the phonemakers want to corral the multimedia experience for themselves by emulating many of the functions of the specialized gadgets on smartphones. In doing so, they may have a better chance if they can also harness a brand that is already familiar in the particular content market.
This has been important to Sony Ericsson, with its use of the Walkman and Cybershot brands of its Japanese parent, but there has been more dispute over the gold standard PlayStation Portable (PSP) logo. And now Sony may use its own brand rather than its joint venture for a long awaited PlayStation phone.
After two years of hopes of a PSP phone, thwarted by internecine struggles over ownership of Sony’s brand, The Wall Street Journal believes the Japanese giant will go ahead with a games handset, but separately from SEMC. It will launch a smartphone heavily geared to PlayStation games, and probably using its name, plus a tablet-style device in the same category as the Apple iPad, reports the WSJ. The latter will combine functionality of a netbook, ereader and PSP, according to the usual “people familiar with the matter”.
In a statement, Sony said: “As already announced, Sony and Sony Ericsson have been strengthening their collaboration in the networked mobile space. However, it is not our strategy to discuss future products or business plan before we make a formal announcement. Any media report that suggests details of the product or business is based on speculation.”
However, last month Sony’s CFO Nobuyuki Oneda was more forthcoming about another new device category, touchscreen tablets, telling an investor meeting: “That is a market we are also very interested in. We are confident we have the skills to create a product. Timewise we are a little behind the iPad but it’s a space we would like to be an active player in.”
With games, books and movies, Sony is stepping up its challenge to Apple’s integrated device/content model, and later this month will launch a digital download service/store called Qriocity (pronounced ‘curiosity’), to take on iTunes. It could also veer into App Store territory, and as such may create confusion with SEMC’s own media store and PlayNow portal.
Integrating Sony’s various product ranges, from TVs to games consoles, with a single content library and user experience, is a key strategy ‘ one into which SEMC may fit increasingly awkwardly.
Meanwhile, Microsoft rumors center once again on the possibly mythical ‘Project Pink’, which would create a handset design under the software giant’s brand, to spread the presence of new OS Windows Phone 7. This could be a reference design, available to multiple white label partners, or more probably, the basis of one or more specific models, codesigned with selected partners. Either way, it is likely to be heavily geared to gaming, and to harnessing the Xbox brand, as well as to social networking.
Pink would presumably tap into the expertise of Microsoft’s Danger acquisition, which would also put other vendor partners in line, as well as HTC. Danger’s Sidekick device is made by Sharp and Motorola. Danger is now part of Microsoft’s new Premium Mobile Experiences team, within the mobile arm of its Entertainment and Devices division. And the Zune media player and Xbox games console could also sees their capabilities and even brands included in Pink models, something also hinted at by the specs of Windows Phone 7.