Category: Tablet Commerce

Wormhole Games sets sights on tablet mobile gaming

Game industry veterans Jamil Moledina and James Kelm have broken away from their former development studio (Funzio) to open up their own. The developers have launched Wormhole Games, a new development studio with a focus on social games designed specifically for tablet devices. The studio aims to usher in a new era for the game industry, one focused on meshing the qualities of classic games with the community aspects of social and mobile games. If the studio can tap into the massive hype surrounding mobile gaming, it may be able to find the success it is looking for.

Tablets offer new avenue for the game industry

Mobile gaming has been on the rise for years, but has only been gaining serious traction since 2010. As mobile devices become more common and powerful, the kind of games they are able to support also become more impressive. Tablets, in particular, have become a very promising platform for mobile games. The larger screen and higher processing power of tablets allow developers to create high resolution games that can make use of more resources than titles designed for smart phones and smaller devices.

Wormhole Games to draw from traditional models while reinventing them

Wormhole Games will have a strong focus on transforming traditional industry models while still using these models to etch out success. The studio is one of the few that is focusing exclusively on the tablet platform for its mobile games and Moledina and Kelm believe that their mix of social and traditional game mechanics will earn respect within the game industry.

Mobile gaming continues generating buzz

Mobile gaming is showing no signs of slowing down. Consumers are demanding better mobile games and more variety. Many mobile games tend to be very similar, due to the fickle nature of consumers and the difficulty developers can have in keeping these people entertained for long periods of time. The tablet platforms offers a little more flexibility, but it has yet to be seen whether Wormhole Games will be able to deliver on its vision.

Apple devices are maintaining their integral role in the sales from the company’s digital goods store.

A new report has just been released by Horace Dediu, an analyst at Asymco, which has illustrated the importance of the role that Apple devices continue to play in the profitability of the iTunes mcommerce digital products store.

The report indicated that iPhone, iPod, and iPad users are still heavy buyers of digital products.

In fact, the statistics that were outlined in the report showed that iOS apps are currently driving one third of the revenue that is being enjoyed by iTunes, and this isn’t showing any indication of changing, for the moment. The research that the analyst performed also indicated a number of other fascinating mcommerce trends.

The iTunes mcommerce experience has continued to thrive as iOS device shoppers head back for more

Among the other findings of the report include the following:

• The gross revenues that have been achieved by the iTunes marketplace have reached an estimated $12 billion per year.
• Over a period of the last five years, owners of both media and apps have generated a total of approximately $24 billion.
• For the aforementioned $24 billion in sales, Apple spent around $10 billion in order to generate them.
• When taken into consideration as a retail business, it costs approximately $3.5 billion per year to operate the iTunes store. This amount includes the costs associated with merchandising, payment processing, as well as any “shipping & handling” expenses.
• Over the last four years, the total revenues at iTunes have experienced a steady rise, at an estimated compounded 32 to 38 percent.
• Although media other than apps still represents around two thirds of iTunes in terms of the annual sales value, the growth rate that this area is experiencing is at 28 percent, while the growth rate for apps is currently at 50 percent.

This annual mcommerce data provides a clearer understanding of the current state of iTunes and helps to suggest some of the directions that it may choose to take as 2013 continues to progress forward.