The iPhone has made a monolithic impact
on gaming. So much so, that in the gaming world, we can now speak in terms of
before iP and after iP.
The iPhone turned five years old on June
29th of this year. Since that time, the iPhone has left an indelible mark on
technology. It has enabled users to organise their lives in ways considered
unimaginable before its launch, and there hasn't been another device that has
changed social and technological life in such a small amount of time.
iPhone
revolution
When the original iPhone was first
introduced, it operated on a brand new system called iOS that included a preinstalled
set of multimedia and productivity applications. The platform was originally
designed as a closed system but independent developers started creating their
own apps soon after launch for unlocked or "jailbroken" iPhones.
Apple was initially reluctant open up the
system to third-party developers, but they bowed to pressure in 2008, allowing
outside developers to officially join in the party. Had this not occurred, who
knows what would have become of the iPhone. The smartphone has become a
cultural phenomenon sparking Copy Cat designs and setting a precedent for the
way we now live our lives.
Since its launch, the iPhone has seen two
major redesigns and three incremental updates. What makes particularly
remarkable is the fact that over it' s initial five year period, Apple's iPhone
has increased tremendously and is now worth more ($22.69bn) than Microsoft's
($17.41bn), as detailed in the info graphic titled "The iPhone Turns 5: A
Success Story".
As shown in the graph, the iPhone has
generated $143bn in revenue since June 2007, more than Apple's total revenue
for the 12 years preceding the device. The impact has literally been a game
changer, not only socially and technologically, but also in terms of the gaming
industry.
the
iPhone has generated $143bn in revenue since June 2007
It's easy to look back on the naysayers now
and laugh at their reactions to the original iPhone. Both Steve Ballmer and
Steve Sprague of Microsoft scoffed while Bloomberg's Matthew Lynn and
market watcher John Dvorak both made less than stellar predictions for
the phone's success.
But to suggest we all knew it would be a
landmark is to undermine the audacious risk Apple had taken to get into the
phone business in the first place. Until development began in 2005, Apple had
never entered the phone market, a market that at the time of the announcement
in 2007, was over saturated by companies competing on thin margins.
The company had no experience working with
wireless carriers, the phone itself ran on AT&T's very slow EDGE network,
there was no 3G capability, no way to replace the battery and no keyboard,
something that at the time was considered essential. The cost was quite prohibitive
as well.
All of these things were important at the
time yet Steve Jobs and Apple broke down these barriers and basic assumptions
to redefine the way technology companies approached new hardware. As it turns
out, an all in one device that could take care of talk, email and media was all
we ever needed; we just didn't know it until Steve Jobs told us.
What is interesting to note here is that
there is no mention of games. Apple had never been interested in making games
and the Mac OSX is still largely ignored by gamers and publishers. But in
turning phones into tiny, sleek computers that made calls, sent email, played
music and other media, they indirectly created a brand new platform that would
change everything.
Before the iPhone, no console or desktop
advancement had revolutionized gaming in the same manner as Apple's new device.
Moving from the 8-bit era to the 16-bit era of the classic Super Nintendo
console was a giant leap and the SNES deserves its place in history. But
nothing has changed when we play, how we play, what we play and what we are
prepared to pay as much as the iPhone.
Physical
retail sales of computer and video games are currently on their lowest level
since 2006
When current generation consoles were
released, the iPhone did not yet exist and it was a full 12 months after its
launch before the App Store came online. Since then, 365 million iOS devices ,
218 million of those being iPhones. Naturally, competitors have followed suit,
with Google recently announcing 400 million Android activations of their own.
As the numbers continue to climb, game
developers celebrate milestones including total downloads reaching the billions—
such as in the case of Angry Birds developer, Rovio. Paid downloads account for
over twenty-five percent of those 1 billion downloads, making Angry Birds one
of the biggest sellers across all mobile devices.
For a company such as Rovio, the iPhone,
the iOS eco-system and Apple's "cool factor" was the catalyst for a
relatively simple physics, puzzle game with some cartoon birds to take over the
world and become one of the highest grossing games in App Store history, not to
mention one of the most popular games ever. Not bad for an independent company
that was started in 2003 by three students from Helsinki University of
Technology, all of whom were looking to enter a mobile gaming competition.
the
iOS eco-system and Apple's "cool factor" was the catalyst for a
relatively simple physics
Rovio is just one example of the many doors
the iPhone has opened. Developers young, old, professional or amateur, are able
to create games for iOS thanks to the availability of Apple's development kit
and the numerous resources aimed at assisting anyone with a predilection for
basic coding and programming.
As a result, indie developers have popped
up in every corner of the globe thanks to the relatively low cost of
development and the accessibility the iPhone provides. This creates a
competitive sub-industry in a gaming world dominated by large corporate
publishers with a sprawling tree of studios and developers attached.
But the overriding reason these independent
developers and publishers are thriving is because the iPhone created the
demand. Never before has gaming become such a "normal" part of life.
With the advent of the iPhone, everyone is a gamer in one form or another.
When celebrities like Alec Baldwin are
thrown off a plane for refusing to stop playing Words with Friends while
standing at the gate, or fashionistas like Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester
admit to being addicted to Doodle Jump, then you know gaming has crossed some
significant boundaries.
