"What if Facebook launched on phones first, rather than browser?"

The social networking platform may never have blossomed had it originated on mobile devices instead of expanding from browser to pocket-sized screen, surmises Kongregate CEO Jim Greer.

It's a point worth considering from the CEO of one of the largest Flash gaming web portals as it jumps from PC browser onto Android devices.

More than 300 games are available via Kongregate Arcade - Greer's free Android app that he hopes will propel the platform's gaming prospects.

By taking the company's experience in building a social gaming hub on PC and applying it to the shaky, though rapidly growing Android marketplace, Greer believes he has a winning formula.

The iOS question

Without question, the app is an aggressive step that highlights Android's greatest strength - its openness - while at the same time rubbing salt on Apple's battle wounds with Adobe over lack of support for Flash in its range of iOS devices.

"The reality is that a large chunk of developers are using Flash," Greer observes.

"The immediate opportunity is on Android," he continues. "Not just because of Flash support, but particularly because it's the fastest growing mobile platform out there. iOS is less a home for us."

Greer admits there's interest in iOS and other platforms - Windows Phone 7 with its impending Flash update is of particular interest - but that the focus is on Android.

Handset fragmentation - an issue receiving increased awareness after a glut of new Android devices was revealed during the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month - is one problem which Greer is willing to meet head on.

"It's analogous to the issues we faced in building Kongregate [for web browsers]. We couldn't know what kind of PC the user was running, so we crafted a platform that was universal."

Fragmentation and tablets

Looking forward, the promise of more powerful Android devices is seen by Greer as an opportunity to push the quality of Flash gaming.

"We have the ability to target by phone and even segment ratings based on the handset you're using," Greer specifies.

So as fragmentation continues, Kongregate plans on embracing this presumed weakness in the Android platform as an opportunity to deliver games specific to each user, each handset.

The same principle applies to tablets, another area of interest for Greer. "Kongregate Arcade works well on tablet as-is," he notes. "It plays well on the Galaxy, but we'll be tweaking the interface and optimising for Honeycomb [Android 3.0 tailored for tablets]."

What's particularly noteworthy about Greer's strategy with Kongregate Arcade is the manner by which it circumvents Google to publish games on Android.

Game developers can work with Greer and his team to publish games through Kongregate, avoiding a direct release on the Android Marketplace entirely. It's an interesting structure that makes clear Greer's choice of Android over iOS.

As with any gaming platform or app, though, success will come down to the quality of available content - something for which Greer expresses nothing but confidence.
Thanks to Jim Greer for taking the time to answer our questions.Kongregate Arcade is available now for all phones running Android 2.2 or higher.