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Zynga: 'Push notification in iPhone 3.0 is a huge leap forward'

But would like to see in-app purchases in free as well as paid apps

Zynga: 'Push notification in iPhone 3.0 is a huge leap forward'
The garlands keep coming for the new iPhone 3.0 software, with Zynga the latest games publisher to hail the new features in Apple's latest SDK.

"We're most excited about the in-app purchase capability and push notifications," says VP of marketing Brandon Barber.

"In-app purchases allow us to better translate the business models we've developed on Facebook to the iPhone. We believe the best way for us to grow on the iPhone platform is to charge as little as possible up front and generate revenue through sales of virtual chips and virtual goods."

However, one quibble Zynga has is over Apple's decision that only paid apps will be able to use in-app purchases - free apps won't.

"We understand Apple’s desire to keep the difference between free apps and paid apps clear to users, but free apps allow you to reach a much broader audience," says Barber.

Still, push notification is a big deal for a social games firm like Zynga, according to Barber.

"Because our games focus on live social, having a communication channel we can use to let players know when their friends are online and want to play is huge leap forward" he says.

Zynga will be including iPhone 3.0 features in all of its games going forward, according to Barber.

The social games firm has released two iPhone games so far: Live Poker and Word Scramble, although the former is available in several versions.

Contributing Editor

Stuart is a freelance journalist and blogger who's been getting paid to write stuff since 1998. In that time, he's focused on topics ranging from Sega's Dreamcast console to robots. That's what you call versatility. (Or a short attention span.)