The impact of Google's Android platform on the mobile games market during 2010 is one of the talking points of Mobile Games Forum.
One person who doesn't seem to be holding his breath however is Jason Citron of the iPhone OpenFeint social gaming network provider Aurora Feint.
While rivals technologies such as Scoreloop now support iPhone and Android, Citron said he expected iPhone to provide a large and sustainable market in the near future.
"We're not looking to port OpenFeint yet. To be honest, I think the App Store will be a big enough opportunity for some time to come. Developers complain about the visibility of their games but I think a lot of those games just aren't very good. If you have a good game, there are ways of getting it seen and making money," he said.
Pressed on the subject of Android, Citron clarified his position.
"Porting to Android isn't a development event for me. It's a business issue. I think it's going to be a while before Google figures how to streamline the purchasing process for apps and games. Also, if you look at Nexus One, it only has 512 MB of memory for apps. There are iPhone games bigger than that, and it shows Google isn't prioritising the same thing as Apple. But when it does, OpenFeint will certainly be there.
"I think it's the small things that make Apple and the App Store so great and there are a thousand of small things that Google does which suggest a different approach. And it's called Android. My geeky programmer friends have Android phones, but my mum has an iPhone."
In another panel talk, Jessica Gwyther, global content development manager for games at Vodafone, said that Google need to work out a better billing solution that the current creditcard-based Google Checkout solution.
"Google needs to sort out operator billing or another more seamless billing system," she said. "People are uncomfortable entering creditcard details into their phone to buy games."
News
Contributing Editor
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon is Contributing Editor at PG.biz which means he acts like a slightly confused uncle who's forgotten where he's left his glasses. As well as letters and cameras, he likes imaginary numbers and legumes.
Related Articles
Top Stories
News
Apr 22nd, 2024
Games Go Green: Major studios join PlanetPlay’s Make Green Tuesday Moves initiative to fight climate change
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Tjodolf Sommestad talks AI, tips for indie devs, and a day in the life of King's president
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Behind the scenes: How to achieve a 30% revenue increase three years after launch
Feature
Apr 22nd, 2024
Hot Five: Earth Day, birthdays, game closures, layoffs and more. Here's what's hot right now…
Events
App Promotion Summit London | Europe | Apr 25th |
Esports Future Summit | Middle East | Apr 27th |
Dubai GameExpo Summit 2024 | Middle East | May 1st |
The MENA Games Industry Awards 2024 | Middle East | May 2nd |
GameDev Atlantic 2024 | May 4th | |
Mobidictum Meetup Berlin May 2024 | Europe | May 7th |
Mobidictum Meetup Tallinn May 2024 | Europe | May 21st |
Israel Mobile Summit 2024 | Middle East | Jun 6th |