But while being popular is a good thing, sometimes the most interesting stories aren't the ones that attracted the biggest audiences at the time.
So it is that we look back at what we think were the 10 most significant mobile gaming stories of 2009.
Here's part 1: numbers 10 to 6...
10. The second death of N-Gage
While it would be stretching the facts to say the start of 2009 saw Nokia's N-Gage mobile platform in rude health, new handsets were being rolled out, and Nokia executives were still talking about "Pushing N-Gage to the limit".
The elephant in the corner of the room however was the new Ovi app store and how Nokia's wider gamer strategy would fit into this new all-singing, all-dancing media shop.
The confusion was compounded as support from a promised handset was dropped, and a key gaming executive left the company. In October, Nokia confirmed what by then everyone had assumed - N-Gage was dead. Again.
9. Top Grossing App Store chart
During early 2009, there had been rumours that Apple would launch a premium gaming $20 section on the App Store. It didn't happened so the discussion shifted to the new discovery opportunities that could be offered by a chart ordered by revenue rather than number of downloads. (Of course, there were also strong arguments against this.)
It wasn't until September and the release of iTunes 9 that Apple launched its Top Grossing chart, which is based on the total revenue of game downloads. As well as highlighting more expensive titles, it also shows the performance of games and apps that use in-app purchases - something which will become increasingly important during 2010.
8. The popularity of social gaming networks
One of the long running mobile technology stories of 2009 has been the competition between the half dozen companies who offer developers the ability to create communities around their iPhone games.
For the record that's: AGON Online, Gameloft Live, geoCade, OpenFeint, Plus+, Scoreloop and Chillingo's still-to-be-launched Crystal.
One result has been regular press releases updating of the number of developers and games who support the various rivals: something that keeps the PocketGamer.biz staff on their toes.
Other big news items from the companies have including OpenFeint gaining investment from Japanese publisher DeNA, Scoreloop raising 2 million of funding and releasing its White Label tech, which supports Android. We expect much of this activity in 2010.
7. The slow rise of Android
Google's Android mobile technology platform launched in October 2008 in the US with T-Mobile's G1 phone. 2009 has seen support steadily increase as more manufacturers have signed up and released devices, and as the Android Market has slowly been refined and launched in more territories.
This activity has gone hand-in-hand with updates to the Android OS, which has bought more functionality in play, so that now most commentators think the maturing platform will become a competitor to existing handset brands in 2010.
Yet for every successful launch such as Motorola's Droid, there's been little but gloom in terms of developers reporting back about the amount of money they're making from downloads.
Hopefully the sheer scale of the install base will finally result in some success stories this year.
6. Everyone has an app store
The huge success of Apple's App Store meant 2009 saw executives from handset manufacturers, operators, publishers, aggregators and retailers asking if they needed their own app store. The answer was invariably yes.
The result has been a flood of investment in infrastructure, with little news of success as yet. For the record, the company breakdown goes something like this:
Google - Android Marketplace
LG - LG App Store
Microsoft - Windows Marketplace
Nokia - Ovi
Orange - App Shop
RIM - BlackBerry App World
Samsung - Application Store
SonyEricsson - PlayNow Arena
Tesco - Tesco Digital
Vodafone - Vodafone 360
You can catch the top 5 most significant mobile gaming stories of 2009 here.
