The latest stats release by analytics firm Flurry suggests Apple has stolen a march on its gaming-based rivals in the US, iPhone and iPod touch now commanding 19 percent of all game software revenue in the US in 2009.
That represents a rise of 14 percent based on Flurry's estimates for 2008, PSP actually falling behind Apple's iDevices into third place from 20 percent in 2008 to 11 percent last year.
Taking on the old firm
Flurry obtained its statistics using NPD data to estimate DS and PSP software sales, its iPhone based statistics taken from a combination of Apple data and its own analytics service.
"With these figures, our main finding is that iPhone (and iPod touch) is a gaming platform to be reckoned with," Flurry's Peter Farago says on the firm's blog.
"From what we calculate, consumers are downloading iPhone games in droves. Comparing iPhone against Sony and Nintendo games sales shows that Apple has taken nearly one fifth of the portable market in 2009, largely at the expense of Sony PSP. Sony finds itself now challenged by two competitors in this segment."
Gaming on the go
Portable games, as a whole, are eating into the home console business according to Flurry's statistics, its share dropping from 79 percent in 2008 to 71 percent in 2009. In Farago's view, it's Apple that's driving this change.
"From a market share perspective, console games lost ground to portable platforms and iPhone. While the downturn in the economy may have dampened sales of the more expensive console games category, there is no denying that iPhone has generated substantial revenue and entered strongly into a mature industry," he adds
"As prices come down for the iPod Touch, and games sold through the App Store continue to have lower price points, more of the young gaming generation may switch to Apple devices over Sony PSP and Nintendo DS for gaming."
[source: Flurry]
