The founder of Tap Tap Revenge developer Tapulous, Bart Decrem become general manager of Disney Mobile, following its acquisition of Tapulous in July 2010.

During 2011, amongst other activity, Disney Mobile added to its successful Jelly Car franchise with Jelly Car 3, released a companion game for its Club Penguin MMOG and had a breakout hit with Where's My Water

PocketGamer: What was the most significant event for mobile gaming in 2011?

Bart Decrem: First, the coming of age of freemium and in-app commerce business models. The top grossing charts on the App Store are now dominated by these games.

Tap Tap Revenge was the first true freemium game on the App Store, and over the last 18 months social games have become very successful on the platform, but now, at the end of 2011, we see freemium and other in-app commerce-centric business models really taking over the top grossing charts, and extending to new gaming genres.

For example, we witnessed the importance of in-app commerce in 'core gamer' titles such as Infinity Blade, and saw a bevy of experiments around freemium models wrapped around casual games - most prominently, Bejeweled Blitz.

Second, Android is really here in force now.

Depending on the game genre and business model, the numbers are still trailing in most cases and word of mouth virality doesn't work as powerfully as on the iOS, but if you're looking at reaching the broadest audience, and especially if you're looking to invest in high growth international markets such as China, you have to be on Android.

As an industry, we can now aspire to building games that can reach one billion gamers over the next few years, and that's largely due to Android."

What was the most significant event for Disney Mobile?

The success of Where's My Water.

The next generation of Disney guests are growing up on the iPhone, iPad and Android devices, so it's critical that we create new characters that are born on these amazing new platforms.

With Where's My Water, we have proven that when we create awesome gameplay, tell fun stories around compelling characters, and bring that to market in the way that only Disney can, we can reach that new generation of guests.

What was your favourite mobile game of the year?

Where's My Water - hands down. The core gameplay is addictive, you get to use your brain, and it's stock-full of Easter eggs.

Beyond Disney, I love playing Words With Friends - first truly social game on the iPhone - Bejeweled Blitz - a classic, and the first successful freemium wrapper around a casual game - and Tiny Tower - a social game made with love.

What will be the most important mobile trends for 2012?

Freemium everything. Building a significant business just around advertising revenues (free games) will continue to be a challenge, and the appetite for premium priced ($4.99+) games will continue to be limited to core gamer audiences.

The number of games that can get to scale around the 99c business model will also continue to be very limited, but dozens of social games have built +$1m per month businesses around freemium models, so expect many more experiments of freemium wrappers around casual games, core gamer-style game etc - packaged up at various initial download price points (ranging from free to $4.99).

What's your New Year's resolution?

The iPhone, the iPad and, increasingly Android phones and tablets, are amazing, magical devices.

Smartphone games are reaching hundreds of millions, soon billions of people: everyone's a gamer now. Here's to a 2012 full of amazing games that add sunshine and a smile to our day: games that tell a story and delight people of all ages, all over the world.

Thanks to Bart for his time.