Is the iPad the next gaming platform?

A special thanks to Distimo for their monthly research in the Mobile business! 


Gfk predicts that end of this year there will be 750.000 iPad's in The Netherlands. I think there will be MUCH more tablets towards the end of this year. 

Here are some facts about the iPad and downloaded content... 
One year after launching the iPad, Apple will be confronted with its first serious competition as both BlackBerry and Google enter the emerging tablet market. Apple has already seized momentum and grown the App Store for iPad in the first year to 75,755 applications developed by 21,975 publishers. Daily downloads in the Top 100 Overall paid and free applications for iPad combined exceed 500,000, while the daily revenue in the Top 100 paid is approximately $400,000 excluding in-app purchases.

Stunning research about iPad usage

Information (the numbers) taken from website Advertising Age:

Research done by Ipsos shows that over 50% of parents let children play games on their iPad that are not really suitable for them. I've been hearing this around my social network as well, but is that really a bad thing? I remember I was playing cops and robbers even before I had seen Miami Vice. Shooting people with fake-revolvers was fun. Can't we compare playing shooter or aggressive games with playing in real-life? If you look at what Tom & Jerry did to each other you might wonder if those animation series should be rated 18+ or 'Adult-only'... for some reason, no one seems to care....until it comes to games...?

By the Numbers

• 18% of parents will let their tween boys aged 9-12 play video games rated adult only, and 36% will let them play games rated mature, provided a parent is playing too.
• 20% of parents will let children 6-12 go with them to R rated movies.
• 23% of children 6-12 regularly visit social networking sites and 41% of kids 11-12 do so, though membership in the sites is supposed to be limited to 13 and up.
• By age 11, half of kids have cellphones. Half of the time it's the parents' idea.
• Kids in the household are huge drivers of iPad penetration. 10% of households with children under 13 now have iPads, vs. only 3% in households without children 6-12.
• 35% of households with children 6-12 plan to purchase some brand of tablet computer in the next year.
• Over half of parents say their children should be able to go online on their own by age 6.

Read the full article at Advertising Age

iCade! - Arcade control for iPad

This is 'Da Bomb' for all you arcade-classics game lovers and Atari fans.

As most of you know, I used to work for Atari over a decade ago and this surely brings back memories!

Check out this Arcade-control hub for iPad!

Together with all your favorite classic Atari games (The app is called 'Atari Greatest Hits' in the iTunes store) you can replay the legendary games on this great console!


The screen below shows you how it works. I WANT TO PLAY DONKEY KONG !!!

3D Lightboxes

impressive if you learn how this technique comes to live. The result looks cool, but once you hear 'how it's made' ... respect!


Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

More information about Berg and Dentse London is to be found here:

http://www.dentsulondon.com/blog/2010/09/14/light-painting/

Angry Birds Peace Treaty

the video is not THAT funny, but watched by over 2 million people and since it's about a game that has been played by more than 40 million people* - I thought I'd share it...

* 12 million played the full version and 30 million the light version.

Games still the most popular apps on smart phones

Research done by Nielsen amongst 4.000 US Smartphone users shows that games are still the most popular downloads.

Interesting to see that social networking websites (Facebook & Twitter I guess) are more popular than 'communication apps' like Voice over IP (Skype) and Instant Messaging (MSN). Also the weather and news is high in the list.

The charts speak for themselves I guess ;-)

Gorillaz - Escape to Plastic Beach: The Game (iPhone + iPad app)

Game for iPhone and iPad to promote the new Gorillaz album. Basically the cool characters always looked like game heroes, so no surprise there. The only thing I don't get is why we can't play with the music?

Why not use your multitrack and facilitate consumers to create remixes bases on the beats, basslines, chords and vocals!?

Why don't you use the brandessence of what you are? A cool innovative brand.

My associations with this band are merely graffiti, art, urban style... and not a hang-gliding guy that shoots on flying targets above the sea....?

An update on iPhone apps & games in two pictures

iPad: 2 year old playing by himself (puzzle game Tozzle)

A friend of mine asked his lovely two-year old kid to play a game on the iPad... be amazed how fast this goes!

iPad games or iCat games?

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Jobs: iPod Touch is a games machine | Casual games | News by Casualgaming.biz

Jobs: iPod Touch is a games machine | Casual games | News by Casualgaming.biz: "Steve Jobs has stated in the clearest terms yet that Apple is to market its iPod Touch as a dedicated games device – and considering how the company has so successfully dominated the MP3 and mobile phone markets, the news will surely be met with concern at both Nintendo and Sony.

Jobs also confessed that last night’s price drop for the device positions it directly at the mass-market – a sector that to date Nintendo has courted with great success.

“Originally, we weren't exactly sure how to market the Touch,” Jobs told The New York Times. “Was it an iPhone without the phone? Was it a pocket computer? What happened was, what customers told us was, they started to see it as a game machine.

“We started to market it that way, and it just took off. And now what we really see is it's the lowest-cost way to the App Store, and that's the big draw.

'So what we were focused on is just reducing the price to $199. We don’t need to add new stuff. We need to get the price down where everyone can afford it.”"