extremepreneur

iPhone traffic to GOOGLE surpassed ALL OTHER HANDSETS over XMAS

Let us hope that the Android people are paying attention to this.

Google Sees Surge in iPhone Traffic

On Christmas, traffic to Google from iPhones surged, surpassing incoming traffic from any other type of mobile device, according to internal Google data made available to The New York Times. A few days later, iPhone traffic to Google fell below that of devices powered by the Nokia-backed Symbian operating system but remained higher than traffic from any other type of cellphone.

The data is striking because the iPhone, an Apple product, accounts for just 2 percent of smartphones worldwide, according to IDC, a market research firm. Phones powered by Symbian make up 63 percent of the worldwide smartphone market, while those powered by Microsoft’s Windows Mobile have 11 percent and those running the BlackBerry system have 10 percent.

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“Consumers are going to demand Internet browsers” as good as Apple’s, said Vic Gundotra, a Google vice president who oversees mobile products.

Mr. Gundotra said Web browsers as capable as the iPhone’s could also prove a boon for developers of mobile software, who have long struggled to adapt their programs to different types of phones. As it does on the PC, he said, the browser could provide a more homogeneous “layer” for programmers.

“The reason no one considered this seriously is that the Web layer on mobile devices was terrible,” he said. Google has taken advantage of the capabilities of the iPhone browser to create a product, internally called Grand Prix, that it says provides easy access to many of the company’s services, including search, Gmail, Reader and Picasa.

Google, which developed the first version of Grand Prix in six weeks, is introducing a new version on Monday, just six weeks after the first one. That is a speed of development not previously possible on mobile phones, he said.

Our ROI on the sponsored iPhone games is nothing short of amazing. With CTR's exceeding 6% on one of the campaigns it is clear that the iPhone browser is what consumers needed to have to make the mobile web happen.

Electronic Arts gets it WRONG on the iPhone

Electronic Arts is claiming that the iPhone is hurting mobile gaming.

Apple’s iPhone is a capable phone that holds promise for the future of gaming, said Travis Boatman, vice president of worldwide studios for Electronic Arts’ mobile division, speaking during a panel session at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. “But it’s a replacement for someone who had a Razr before. They still want their content but there’s no distribution platform in place so there’s a negative impact on the industry,” he said.

In my 25+ years in the game business, including six years at Activision where I was the VP of Technology for the Studio, I have never seen such an incredable misstatement in the gaming media.

The iPhone is a AWESOME game platform. There are over 100 games already released for the iPhone. We've (MyNuMo) released eight iPhone game titles (Blackjack, Darts, Bowling, Backgammon...) as well as partnered with TableStar to launch the multi-player strategy game Swatches, where up to 6 players can chat and play this cool board game. All these games run in Safari (no install) and they run very well.

I'd stack our card and casual games against any mobile title for look and feel. The iPhone's touch screen interface is exceptional and we see thousands of new players every day. Our development team prefers Safari to J2ME as well.

Many of these games are free, ad supported titles. The ad-sponsored model works on the iPhone for two reasons. First, the iPhone browser supports most e-commerce sites, so the users can actually buy something ... Seconds, multiple portals feature and rate the games and other applications so the best games get an instant audience.

You can see these games here:

http://www.mynumo.com/iphone/fun4iphone.htm

You're going to see some great social games for the iPhone in the next few months. The iPhone is the BEST THING to happen in Mobile Gaming.

William Volk

CEO

MyNuMo, LLC