Nokia Focuses on Graphics-Rich Cellphone Games
Nokia Corp. is counting on people such as Rita El Khoury, who splurged on the Finnish phone maker's €430 ($674) N81 handset so she could be an early user of the company's N-Gage Internet service platform for videogames.
Nokia wants to draw customers to its feature-rich phones, like the Nokia N95 8GB, a multimedia smart phone.
N81 users have been able to use the service since early February, while everyone else had to wait until Thursday. "N-Gage is a must-have," said Ms. Khoury, a 22-year-old pharmacy student from Beirut, Lebanon, whose blog entries on electronic devices place an emphasis on Nokia products.
While handset makers world-wide are positioning to grab a piece of the burgeoning market for games on mobile devices, Nokia is setting itself apart by opting to concentrate on an Internet platform providing access to offerings both bigger and more graphics-rich than the Java-based games more commonly found on phones.
With N-Gage, Nokia hopes to carve out a hefty chunk of sales that research firm Gartner Inc. expects to rise to $9.6 billion by the end of 2011 from $2.9 billion in 2006.
"I see a lot of potential for mobile gaming," Gartner analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen said. "Casual-snacking games [those played for a few minutes] with social interaction help drive this market, and Nokia wants to take this to the next level."
Nokia is the world's largest maker of mobile devices, with nearly 40% of the market, followed by Samsung Electronics Co. with 13% and Motorola Inc. with 12%, according to fourth-quarter data from Gartner. Sony Ericsson places fourth with 9%. All of them are looking at mobile games to diversify revenue.
The companies differ on how to tap the market. Sony Ericsson, the joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, is drawing on the experience of Sony, which makes the popular PlayStation game console and a portable equivalent, but plans to stick with simpler, smaller games downloaded directly to phones easily.
• The News: Nokia is expanding its N-Gage Internet and gaming platform to more devices.
• The Background: An earlier rollout of N-Gage was hampered by clumsy design and a high price tag.
• Outlook: Nokia hopes the new offering will help it grab a bigger piece of the growing market for mobile gaming.Nokia is betting users of its high-end Nseries phones will want richer offerings and will be willing to use their fast broadband connections to download hefty games from the Internet and take part in the N-Gage Web community.
"Last year, there were some 40 million Nseries devices sold," said Jaakko Kaidesoja, head of Nokia's mobile-gaming business. "We are talking about tens of millions of downloads. The potential is huge."
The game market has tripped Nokia before. Its first attempt at N-Gage, in 2003, was a handset meant to rival portable-gaming devices from giants such as Nintendo Co. and Sony, but clumsy design and a fat €249 price tag made the gaming phone little more than a curiosity.
But Mr. Kaidesoja said testing of the new N-Gage has seen tens of thousands of downloads, and all users of Nseries models will have access to games they can download for €7 to €10 in developed markets and €5 to €6 in developing countries.
David Carnevale, vice president of multimedia content and distribution at El Segundo, Calif., research firm iSuppli, said the company may be on to something with N-Gage. "Nokia is serious about becoming more than a cellphone company and is taking the time and investing in order to bring it about," he said.
Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, is sticking with Java as its gaming format, said Martin Blomkvist, who heads content, acquisitions and management for the handset maker. He said tweaking a phone slightly can enhance a player's Java gaming experience so it would nearly rival the quality of games offered by Nokia.
He said there are hundreds of millions of phones in use that can play Java games, and his company has commitments from several of the largest mobile-game makers to supply all Sony Ericsson handsets.
Mr. Blomkvist said Sony Ericsson doesn't plan to have an interactive Internet gaming portal, but said users would be able to download games directly to their handsets through the PlayNow phone portal later this year.
Michael Schade, head of game maker Fishlabs in Germany, said Nokia's games may be higher in quality, but Sony Ericsson has in-house experience through its PlayStation pedigree so the company is likely to remain competitive. Still, Mr. Schade is intrigued by the community aspect of the N-Gage Web site, saying it should be a big plus for attracting and keeping users.
Nokia's Mr. Kaidesoja said the platform will allow users to connect with one another, letting them post high scores, and to play head-to-head and in tournaments.
Mr. Schade at Fishlabs doesn't have a deal with Nokia, but he said he plans to take advantage of the native coding N-Gage platform, adding that the move would let him make one version of a game that could reach millions of users rather than tweaking each Java game to work on individual handset models, saving time and money.
But Ms. Khoury, the Beirut student, still has concerns. She said users can play games only as long as the batteries in their devices hold out, which is only a couple of hours.
She also remembered what happened the last time the Finnish company jumped into the games market. "Nokia got a shot at N-Gage a few years ago and arguably failed at making a success out of it," she said, "So they need to get this one right -- from the first release day."
source
Nokia wants to draw customers to its feature-rich phones, like the Nokia N95 8GB, a multimedia smart phone.
N81 users have been able to use the service since early February, while everyone else had to wait until Thursday. "N-Gage is a must-have," said Ms. Khoury, a 22-year-old pharmacy student from Beirut, Lebanon, whose blog entries on electronic devices place an emphasis on Nokia products.
While handset makers world-wide are positioning to grab a piece of the burgeoning market for games on mobile devices, Nokia is setting itself apart by opting to concentrate on an Internet platform providing access to offerings both bigger and more graphics-rich than the Java-based games more commonly found on phones.
With N-Gage, Nokia hopes to carve out a hefty chunk of sales that research firm Gartner Inc. expects to rise to $9.6 billion by the end of 2011 from $2.9 billion in 2006.
"I see a lot of potential for mobile gaming," Gartner analyst Tuong Huy Nguyen said. "Casual-snacking games [those played for a few minutes] with social interaction help drive this market, and Nokia wants to take this to the next level."
Nokia is the world's largest maker of mobile devices, with nearly 40% of the market, followed by Samsung Electronics Co. with 13% and Motorola Inc. with 12%, according to fourth-quarter data from Gartner. Sony Ericsson places fourth with 9%. All of them are looking at mobile games to diversify revenue.
The companies differ on how to tap the market. Sony Ericsson, the joint venture of Japan's Sony Corp. and Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, is drawing on the experience of Sony, which makes the popular PlayStation game console and a portable equivalent, but plans to stick with simpler, smaller games downloaded directly to phones easily.
• The News: Nokia is expanding its N-Gage Internet and gaming platform to more devices.
• The Background: An earlier rollout of N-Gage was hampered by clumsy design and a high price tag.
• Outlook: Nokia hopes the new offering will help it grab a bigger piece of the growing market for mobile gaming.Nokia is betting users of its high-end Nseries phones will want richer offerings and will be willing to use their fast broadband connections to download hefty games from the Internet and take part in the N-Gage Web community.
"Last year, there were some 40 million Nseries devices sold," said Jaakko Kaidesoja, head of Nokia's mobile-gaming business. "We are talking about tens of millions of downloads. The potential is huge."
The game market has tripped Nokia before. Its first attempt at N-Gage, in 2003, was a handset meant to rival portable-gaming devices from giants such as Nintendo Co. and Sony, but clumsy design and a fat €249 price tag made the gaming phone little more than a curiosity.
But Mr. Kaidesoja said testing of the new N-Gage has seen tens of thousands of downloads, and all users of Nseries models will have access to games they can download for €7 to €10 in developed markets and €5 to €6 in developing countries.
David Carnevale, vice president of multimedia content and distribution at El Segundo, Calif., research firm iSuppli, said the company may be on to something with N-Gage. "Nokia is serious about becoming more than a cellphone company and is taking the time and investing in order to bring it about," he said.
Sony Ericsson, on the other hand, is sticking with Java as its gaming format, said Martin Blomkvist, who heads content, acquisitions and management for the handset maker. He said tweaking a phone slightly can enhance a player's Java gaming experience so it would nearly rival the quality of games offered by Nokia.
He said there are hundreds of millions of phones in use that can play Java games, and his company has commitments from several of the largest mobile-game makers to supply all Sony Ericsson handsets.
Mr. Blomkvist said Sony Ericsson doesn't plan to have an interactive Internet gaming portal, but said users would be able to download games directly to their handsets through the PlayNow phone portal later this year.
Michael Schade, head of game maker Fishlabs in Germany, said Nokia's games may be higher in quality, but Sony Ericsson has in-house experience through its PlayStation pedigree so the company is likely to remain competitive. Still, Mr. Schade is intrigued by the community aspect of the N-Gage Web site, saying it should be a big plus for attracting and keeping users.
Nokia's Mr. Kaidesoja said the platform will allow users to connect with one another, letting them post high scores, and to play head-to-head and in tournaments.
Mr. Schade at Fishlabs doesn't have a deal with Nokia, but he said he plans to take advantage of the native coding N-Gage platform, adding that the move would let him make one version of a game that could reach millions of users rather than tweaking each Java game to work on individual handset models, saving time and money.
But Ms. Khoury, the Beirut student, still has concerns. She said users can play games only as long as the batteries in their devices hold out, which is only a couple of hours.
She also remembered what happened the last time the Finnish company jumped into the games market. "Nokia got a shot at N-Gage a few years ago and arguably failed at making a success out of it," she said, "So they need to get this one right -- from the first release day."
source
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