iPhone Marketshare In Gaming Increases

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A recent study by the folks at Flurry Analytics has found that the iPhone OS is seeing huge gains in the mobile gaming space, both edging out the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP for gaming revenue. In the course of a year, based on revenue, the iPhone OS saw it’s marketshare move from 5% to 19%.

It’s worth mentioning that since the July 2008 launch of the Apple App Store, about 30,000 of the total 150,000 are listed as games. Also worth noting is that since an iPhone game is a lot less expensive than a Nintendo DS or Sony PSP game, they probably have considerable volume in sales vs. the traditional handheld platforms.

If you recall, video game analyst Michael Patcher said that via the iPhone and the App Store, Apple had become a major player in the video game space – and that even led to speculation that Apple would port the iPhone OS to the AppleTV to allow iPhone games to be played on a large screen.

Another study from Flurry Analytics shows that in the past year, in the overall gaming market (consoles included) the iPhone improved its marketshare from 1% to 5%, while traditional consoles (Wii, Xbox, etc.) still held a large margin.

The iPhone-welding Apple loyalists are now holding these numbers as proof positive that the iPhone OS (iPad included) will soon overtake the video game industry, squeezing out the regular big players, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

It may be a bit early for that. While the iPhone is making big gains in the market, the average person buying an iPhone game probably isn’t the same person who would buy a PSP or DS game – and I doubt that a $5 iPhone game is stealing sales from a $60 Xbox 360 game. It’s also worth noting that an iPhone or iPad can’t offer something like 3D gaming (yet).

At any rate, the iPhone and its app store market is surging in popularity and it will be interesting to see what further effects this has on the game industry.