South Korean publisher Gamevil (KDQ:063080) has announced its Q3 2011 figures for the three months ending 30 September.

Sales were 10 billion Won (around $9 million), up 40 percent year-on-year.

Net income was 4 billion Won (around $3.6 million), up 26 percent.

The company put this rise down to strong growth in both domestic and international smartphone sales thanks to annual releases such as its Baseball Superstars and Zenonia series.

Smartphone meets IAP

In addition, Gamevil pointed to the success of its $10 million developer fund in attracting third party developers, and resulting in the successful release of games such as Air Penguin, Destinia and Cartoon Wars.

Indeed, revenue from smartphones constituted 79 percent of the company's total, up 497 percent year-on-year.

Also significant was the announcement that 79 percent of sales were generated from in-app purchases, up 159 percent, even though most of Gamevil's releases are paid. (Obviously, the fact that smartphones and IAP accounted for the same revenue total is coincidental; it's not the same revenue per se.)

Besting best

"We are continually besting our previous quarter results with higher quality in-house and published titles in various genres," commented Yong Kuk Lee, CFO.

"Gamevil will continue to build upon this momentum to capture the ever-growing global smartphone audience. Going forward, we are confident that maturing freemium models, the Games category opening on the Korean application stores will all make significant contributions."

[source: Gamevil]