Author: Julie Campbell

While the hottest smartphone games remain popular, previously overlooked titles get a new chance at this time of year.

At this time of year, holiday travelers are on the roads, sitting in airports, or crammed in the seats of planes, buses and trains, heading to various destinations around the world, and mobile gaming has become an important part of that experience.

These mobile games have allowed children and adults alike to remain entertained throughout long wait times.

The trendiest mobile gaming apps are typically easiest for users to find, since they are often featured at the marketplaces from which they can be downloaded. However, for many travelers, who have to spend hour upon hour in waiting areas and in vehicles as they cross the country to be with their loved ones over the holidays, the most popular games aren’t enough. They need more in order to fill that amount of time. This has opened up opportunities for hidden gems to be discovered.

There have been a number of mobile gaming apps that have already started to be found to be diamonds in the rough.

Among the mobile games that have seen considerable increases in their successes due to holiday travelers are:

• SimpleRockets (By Jundaroo) – this app is available for Android, iOS, and Windows Phone and is a mobile take on the game designed for PC called the Kerbal Space Program, which was highly popular. It requires players to assemble different components to build a rocket ship that will work and take the user to various parts of the moon, the solar system, and the rest of the universe.

• Auralux (By War Drum Studios) – this is a free strategy game app that is simple in design and rules, but complex in the strategy required. It is available for Android and iOS devices and uses the very basics in military planning to create complicated events for defense and capture.

• Virtual Pool Mobile (By Celeris) – this is a mobile gaming alternative to a PC game that had been designed to provide a billiards playing experience that was physically accurate. In fact, the PC game came with a promise that if the accuracy of its physics didn’t allow the player to improve his or her real game of pool, they would get their money back.

Consumers are now looking for a different range of selling points in order to attract them to buy.

The speed at which technology has been advancing has also caused mobile trends to start to change in terms of what consumers find most appealing, and which features will cause them to choose one product over another.

Ten years ago, there were no smartphones, and the cell phones that were available were heavy and huge.

In the earlier days, the level of technology that was available made lighter and smaller versions of products such as laptops, cell phones, and tablets into very appealing mobile marketing trends. People didn’t just want their devices to be less heavy and to be thinner, they needed them to be that way in order to make them more practical. Mobile device makers were always keen to be able to say that their device was the thinnest or the lightest in the world.

However, these mobile trends have now changed as the majority of devices are very light and extremely thin.

Even the battery life, which has traditionally been a vital feature in mobile technology, is starting to decrease in importance as a selling feature. While it is still up there on the list, the fact that the majority of mobile devices can be used for long hours or even days, and portable battery chargers are becoming higher in quality and more affordable means that most gadget owners don’t find themselves in a lurch after making only one long phone call.

It appears as though the goals for lightness and thinness have essentially been reached in the eyes of the consumer, and shoppers are now looking for something more from their mobile technology. The key is for device makers to keep on top of the tech trends and to make sure that as they change tacks so that they are developing and advertising their latest features, they will be capabilities that people actually want, will find relevant, and will convince them to choose their product over another.

Failing to do so will only cause manufacturers to be victims of the latest mobile trends. This helps to explain why iPhone customers with the previous most recent device were not necessarily among those waiting in line for the iPhone 6 upon its release, and why Samsung has been watching declining sales, this year.