Comments on: Why gaming on the iPhone works

By: Matt Radford

Matt Radford — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:57:44 +0000

We try!

By: sager laptops

sager laptops — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:03:03 +0000

Gotta love the effort you put into this blog

By: James Burland

James Burland — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:28:33 +0000

That might work. Though I figure that Apple would have something to say about this device!

By: Nikolay Andreev

Nikolay Andreev — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 10:44:14 +0000

I have a great idea for NOKIA.
Make a phone addon to the iPod Touch in the manner of the incase Power Slider iPhone case. It should feature
- 3G chip and antena
- GPS
- 2x Simcard slots
- 3.2MP camera + xenon flash
- extra battery
- App store Phone App
- dock integration
- Push notification for calls

As this iPod Touch is so slim, those extra components will not make it too thick.

I think this package will make Steve very happy man.

By: Markus

Markus — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:39:36 +0000

I connect my Touch with my WIFI Nokia Phone via a free software Joiku (no connection from my side to the software producer!). So the Touch uses the 3 G of the phone very nicely, and only when I want to. So battery drainage is not a real problem!

By: James Burland

James Burland — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 00:04:22 +0000

I wonder how long it will be until the iPod Touch gets a SIM slot?

By: Iain 117

Iain 117 — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:47:04 +0000

To be honest, the best thing about my iPhone for me is flat-rate, always-on data. And I’d lose that with a Touch, just my two pennies

By: James Burland

James Burland — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:15:24 +0000

I’m undecided about the iPod Touch. I’m sure I would find it frustrating. Having said that, for many people it’s probably a perfect solution.

Some really excellent points made in your comments Nikolay.

By: Nikolay Andreev

Nikolay Andreev — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:01:33 +0000

On the Topic…. 2 of my 7 iPhone pages are just games. I have only one game on the PC and that is Starcraft.

One things about iPhone gaming is that it better fits the more accepted level of involvement by the vast majority of the people. You have some spare time and you want to kill it by getting into a quick game without speeding hours like a hard core gamer. Who has time for that.

By: Nikolay Andreev

Nikolay Andreev — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:56:22 +0000

As with everything else Apple does, one cannot get a sense of iPhone gaming until one has had sufficient time to experience the whole process. Looking for a game, paying, installing, playing, updates and so on.

As James has observed, the iPhone does not produce the highest polygon count but boy does it not excel in all other categories.

What some people have not noticed is how Apple has almost doubled the iPhone presence in the market under the radar. Everybody talks about the iPhone, but half of the iPhone OS platform is actually the iPod Touch. One might argues that the current model is the better of the two when it comes to gaming. How many personal media players in the class of the iPod Touch with a full Platform OS are there? None to my knowledge.

Recent statistics on the mobile usage indicates that the iPod Touch has much higher growth rate than the iPhone. It may eventually outsell it (at least the current model). This is one reason Apple execs talked about 30 million iPhone OS devices. The iPod Touch has found a market just as relevant as the iPhone. Much of that market was not stolen from the smart-phones but rather from other mobile gaming platforms like the PSP and DSi.

The iPod Touch just shows what is the minimum hardware that you need for a super successful platform. It’s not querty keyboard or D-Pad, it’s not a HD screen, its not a 8 Megapixel camera or even SD card slot. It’s not even the subsidized price or the huge storage capacity I can fit all my apps on my iPhone even if I had the 4GB model. I think, Apple will release something this summer that will reflect these realities.