With Mobile World Congress and the Game Developers Conference firmly behind us, it's been a week of getting back to business as usual at PG.biz: the home of news and views on the business of app stores, smartphone platforms, developments in mobile game making and assorted technology.

While for some the last week was little more than a question of waiting for iPad's debut on Friday (and, more on that later) enthusiasm for Apple's new device has been played out against a backdrop of the demise of Game - a firm that's entertained plenty of glittering midnight hardware launches itself.

The future of the UK retailer – if, indeed, it has one – has implications not only for both 3DS and PS Vita's presence on the high street, but also the industry's shift as a whole towards digital marketplaces.

At the start of the week, Game's fortunes looked rather bleak, with the retailer having spent the previous weekend slashing prices in a bid to serve up capital to keep things ticking over.

In the days that followed, however, rumoured bids for the business came in from a multitude of directions – the two most prominent being from US supermarket giant Walmart and OpCapita, owner of UK electronics chain Comet.

Game itself has said no offers tabled guarantee its long term security, and – given it's now Saturday – it appears a final decision won't come until next week, at the earliest.

Game for iPad?

Needlessly to say, Game wouldn't have been one of the venues selling iPads on launch day. Early accounts of the tablet's first day in the UK, however, suggest sales might not have been quite as barnstorming as some had expected.

The queue at Apple's flagship store in the UK on Regent Street in London was the lowest seen for all three generations of iPad, though as commentators have been quick to point out, this may have something to do with Apple's revised pre-order program, which for the first time allowed consumers to order an iPad to be delivered on day one.

Well, that was the theory before pent up demand pushed delivery dates back, at least.

More positive news came from PocketGamer.biz's second sweep of developer opinion regarding the pros and cons of Apple's iPad revision. Unlike previous accounts, this week saw plenty of developers run to Apple's defence to claim iPad's new tech wouldn't leave indies in the shade. 

"It's not like the game console world where this whole default requirement to produce ever more realistic vast 3D worlds," said Revolution Software co-founder Tony Warriner.

"Some people will no doubt go that way, but it’s not the only approach."

Still, according to veteran programmer Glenn Corpes, it won't all be plain sailing.

"I hear that those GPU cores [in the latest iPad] are only a bit faster than the ones in the iPad 2," he contested.

"This means that a fill limited iPad 2 game could be slower with Retina. This may well be a complete non issue in a world where devs are still working on versions for the original iPad, but if it does become true with an especially shiny future game, remember where you heard it first."

Opening Windows

In the wake of iPad's launch, however, the competition has continued to amass.

Windows 8 tablets are now gathering on the horizon, with rumours suggesting Nokia is readying a dual-core 10-inch tablet running Microsoft's OS due for launch later this year.

Such talk was only bolstered when Nokia design chief Marko Ahtisaari confirmed the Finnish manufacturer was indeed already "working on" on tablet for Microsoft's OS.

No, really, those were his actual words: "We're working on it."

Nokia may well be beaten to the market, however. Lenovo is reportedly working on launching a tablet ready for Windows 8's debut – which it believes will be in October – while Dell has also vowed to be there on day one.

With few managing to gain traction with Android tablets outside of Amazon and Samsung, Windows 8 is increasingly looking like a serious contender for Apple's rivals.

HP is another allotted Windows 8 backer, though this week saw former CTO Phil McKinney cast more light on the demise of Palm, acquired by the tech giant back in 2010.

The long and short of McKinney's take was, after giving Palm three years to turn its business around, then HP CEO Leo Apotheker decided to kill the business out of the blue. Indeed, even before the first fruits of the acquisition had hit the shelves - HP's webOS powered TouchPad - Apotheker was undermining Palm's plan of action at every turn.

"Leo comes in as the new CEO - and HP, for whatever reason - I was not a part of this decision - made the decision to kill it, one year into the three year program," he detailed.

"This is an example of not committing long term to the resources and not having patience for innovation."

Marketing might

This week also played host to what looks like a far more positive appointment in the form of former PlayStation supremo Phil Harrison at Microsoft.

Having served as Sony's master of spin during PlayStation's heyday, Harrison is now set to link up with developers working across Xbox 360, Windows 8 and – most importantly for us – Windows Phone. iPhone and Android fans beware.

But while Harrison may mastered the art of PR and promotion in his time, indie developers aren't always quite so well versed. This week saw marketing consultant Brian Baglow step up to deliver his top five tips for mobile game developers.

"The problem is that for developers, the whole idea of marketing seems, well, distasteful," opened Baglow.

"It's something that publishers do for God's sake. I've heard perfectly sane and apparently experienced developers, say - in public - that "good games don't need PR. Which is very noble, but again, not really a business model you can rely on."

The best tip we could offer any developer, big or small, is to read PocketGamer.biz. Seriously. Our mortgages depend on it.