Social Networks Go Mobile with Handset Makers

A game-changing development reported by BusinessWeek that social networks like Facebook and MySpace are side-stepping mobile phone carriers and striking deals directly with manufacturers to be featured on BlackBerrys and iPhones and in cell phones from INQ and Nokia  (NOK)

Case in point: Facebook struck a deal to become a featured social network on a low-priced cell phone due this year from INQ, a London-based subsidiary of Hutchison Whampoa. The company has integrated Facebook into every facet of its upcoming phone, INQ1, to be released in Britain and Australia by Christmas. The phone’s address book displays contacts logged into Facebook; its camera posts pictures directly to the social networking site; and its home screen shows photos loaded by friends onto the site.

The social networks did begin working with the mobile carriers since the past year, e.g., Facebook was featured on 100 portals in more than 50 countries, however, the rate of adoption was lower than they desired.

Better integration with handsets can dramatically increase user engagement with a mobile site. A year ago, Research In Motion (RIMM) released a Facebook application especially designed for BlackBerry devices. The app lets subscribers more easily use their handsets to befriend and interact with fellow Facebook users. One in 10 BlackBerry users now has the application, says Facebook Mobile Manager Henri Moissinac.

The mobile social networks present a new medium for game developers. The real challenge is that most of the  games available on social networks are not mobile-ready. This means  they are built using technologies meant for the Internet and cannot be run as-is without a significant conversion effort for the mobile platforms .

jgc

Technorati Tags: Mobile gaming, FaceBook, MySpace, Nokia, Blackberry, Apple, iPhone, INQ, BusinessWeek

What can you learn from Procter and Gamble?

Eric Ries was a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of IMVU.  He shares some of the challenges you will face when you make your game available for retail download at the Apple Store or another game portal.

I’ve also been playing around with the App Store. From a technical point of view, it’s amazing. You just install app after app after app, and it just works…

But from a customer experience point of view, I’m not yet sold. Figuring out which apps are going to be any good is almost impossible. Even with only a few months of development, third parties have crammed every single category in the store full of apps. Most of my time in the store is spent scrolling through endless lists. And what distinguishes a good app? I can’t really tell.

I think this is a major challenge for companies that hope to build dominance in some category on the iPhone …

Browsing the app store is an awful lot like shopping in a retail grocery store. You see row after row of tiny boxes, each vying for your attention. They can’t present much information…

So what is the solution? Eric points out that you should look at the lessons learned in the retail industry for selling consumer packaged goods.

This is what brand marketers and consumer packaged goods companies have been studying and refining for years: how to win the battle in your mind before you ever set foot in the store. Once you have come to think of Crest as the #1 toothpaste, and, more importantly, your toothpaste, it’s unlikely you’re going to pay attention to the other boxes on the shelf, no matter how shiny they are.

…  we may revert to the retail model, where good positioning and good branding will win. When I’m scrolling through the endless list of games in that category, the icon that I’ve come to associate with “that company that makes amazing iPhone games” is going to get a disproportionate share of my attention.

You will have to think about, what differentiates/distinguishes my game from the competition? What can I do to capture the customer’s attention when she finds my game?

jgc

Technorati Tags: IMVU, Apple, iPhone, consumer packaged goods, marketing, positioning, branding, online gaming , Procter and Gamble

Mobile games for casual gaming – requirements

Smart phone and Internet-enables phones from Nokia, Apple and Samsung (LG) are becoming ubiquitous with their users routinely accessing data, applications, e-mail and schedules over the Internet. Apple has sold about 10 million iPhones, Nokia’s global presence and distribution gives it the potential to reach 10X as many users as Apple.  Mobile games represent up to 50 percent of all downloads, while just 18 months ago, the share of mobile games was 35 percent of all downloaded content. Smart phones offer a very attractive opportunity for game developers and the apparent business requirements seem to be fairly straightforward:

1. Consumers need a easy way to find and download games.
2. Consumers should be able to download and play, try and buy, interesting games for any of their smart phones.
3. The games should be simple to learn and fun to play.
4. It would be nice if users could share their enjoyment of playing a mobile game as they would on Facebook or another social network

Today there is no easy way to find and download games. Nokia has launched the N-gage gaming service for Nokia N-gage phone users, however, its adoption has been poor to date. Apple’s iTunes store is a great example of a successful business model.

Games are a key driver for telecom carriers for increasing data and service revenues from users. As mobile voice revenue is decreasing, mobile operators are continuing to search for mobile data applications to increase revenue.  While game developers can establish distribution relationships with them, the revenue split is usually very steep.

The game should be portable across all phone hardware (Nokia, Apple, Samsung, Moto), mobile OS (Symbian, Apple, Windows Mobile) and phone application frameworks, to ensure the best return on investment for the game developer. Flash Lite and J2ME are attractive technologies that offer portability for building the games

jgc

Technorati Tags: mobile gaming, smart phone, Nokia, N-gage, Apple, iPhone, Samsung, LG, Facebook, J2ME, Flash, Flash Lite, Windows Mobile