Gaming on a mobile phone is rapidly becoming a very hot commodity within the mobile data arena, in many cases surpassing mobile music and mobile video revenues for the cell phone operators.
According to In-Stat's latest market Study, there are meaningful differences between survey respondents who play games on their mobile phones, and those who don't.
Of the respondents who are mobile gamers, most are under 35 and tend to spend more money on their handsets than non-gamers. But wait, there's more to this evolving market segment than just the gaming revenue.
These mobile subscribers also choose to upgrade their handsets more often, purchase more premium entertainment services (in addition to games), and have higher overall monthly mobile phone service spending than non-gaming consumers.
That said, despite the interest in mobile games and mobile data applications, three-fourths of survey respondents said they do not play games on their handsets.
As mobile voice revenues decline, the challenge for cellular operators, game publishers, handset manufacturers and venture capitalists becomes how to increase awareness of the available games and features mobile devices offer and turn that increased awareness into mobile data revenue.
Dare I say it, perhaps more creative and effective marketing would help.
In-Stat's upcoming report is apparently due out soon. In the interim, In-Stat continues to research the interplay and development of the mobile applications market within its multimedia service and consumer usage studies.
