At the start of September, new UK-based casual gaming publisher Zattikka announced it was buying Gimme5games (formerly mobile developer Morpheme) and its popular web portal.

Interested to get the take of Gimme5games' MD, now Zattikka's head of product development, Matt Spall, we hooked up to find out how mobile and iPhone would fit into the company's future plans.

Pocket Gamer: How does mobile fit into Zattikka's mix of platforms for online casual games?

Matt Spall: Zattikka is taking a broad platform view and will release games that suit the formats and their user base. There's a clear crossover with the casual demographic, and the ownership of iPhone, so that's an obvious place for us to be focusing some of our attention.

How has iPhone changed the landscape?

Prior to Apple's App Store model, getting a game to market on a mobile meant having multiple relationships with multiple carriers, any of which at any time could choose not to take your game. The App Store has done away with this, and for the most part, and put the power back in the hands of the creators of the games.

Likewise, the access to games for the end user is pretty much a seamless process. If I hear about an app, or see one on the App Store, I can have it on my device within seconds. It's completely changed the way games and apps are distributed and consumed.

What about emerging platforms such as Android or Window Mobile?

Android is an interesting one. Google certainly knows how to make a noise about what it's doing. There's a big buzz around it as an OS, and the first few deployments seem to be going down well.

I guess my worry about Android is the same old chestnut as it was for other OSs that rely upon thirdparty implementation - fragmentation - different screen sizes, button configurations, processor speeds, firmware - are all items of concern.

The Android Wikipedia page already lists 17 deployments of Android, and the open source nature of the OS allows manufacturers to implement their own proprietary extensions, potentially complicating development even more.

Windows Mobile, I believe, has a similar problem; multiple devices, with differing capabilities, OS versions and screen sizes complicate the issue when developing for the format.

This is in no way a dismissal of either format. The same issues go along with other formats like Symbian, BlackBerry, and even good old J2ME.

It's just a matter of more carefully establishing which devices are most suitable, both capability-wise and in terms of targeting the right audience for your game or app.

Do you plan to support mobile devices for future Zattikka games such as Badhed?

Zattikka's strategy is to create the kind of games that users want, or better, need. The Badhed brand will represent a range of titles selected and designed to appeal within a certain sector of the market.

We'll carefully study what the market opportunity is for mobile association with the games that we produce or license for Badhed, or any other brands that we establish.

More generally, how does Zattikka expect to make a mark in the already very competitive casual gaming space?

A sharp focus on quality and an understanding of the products that users want, while at the same time, delivering that quality on multiple formats in a joined up and heuristic manner.

Thanks to Matt for his time.

You can keep informed on what Zattikka gets up to at its website, Facebook and Twitter.