Muse.On-The.Net

Nokia is the world leader in the manufacture of mobile phones. This coveted position in an industry that sold over 1 billion phones in 2007 makes Nokia the world leader in sales of cameras and digital music players as well - as add-ons to their phones. Is Nokia set to become the dominant platform for gamers as well?

Having sales of a platform is clearly not enough. Most phone music players do not compare well to the Apple iPod. Similarly, most camera phones are inadequate camera replacements, even for casual use. However, the combination of convenience with continuous technological innovation suggests that multipurpose devices may eventually replace singular function ones. Sales of stand-alone devices will eventual decline, except perhaps for high-end customers. For most people, the quality inevitably becomes good enough after enough iterations. Technology always evolves and improves.

The Apple iPhone is perhaps recognition on Apple’s part that the iPod would eventually diminish. Apple has been aggressively cannibalizing itself before others can do so and has been particularly effective in keeping their competition off-balance and scrambling to keep up. Where the phone industry must worry is that now the wireless technology component has become a commodity itself, and thus new competition a la Apple can enter the market and compete. Nintendo, for example, could include a phone in their Gameboy DS.

Until now, the cellular phone industry has been allowing support for games but not aggressively pursuing it. Typical customer complaints of the mobile phone as a game platform question keyboard layout and suitability, difficulty downloading and installing games, and limited network features. Developers face the daunting task of support thousands of handsets with multiple incompatibilities and inconsistent application of standards.

Nokia tried to solve the puzzle once before, with the original nGage circa 2002. It was a dismal failure on all fronts. For a company so observant of customer desires for mobile phones, they misread their audience, alienated developers, and did nothing to rectify their mistakes - until now.

The new nGage is not a phone but a software platform. It will operate in a vast number of phone models and will operate consistently. It addresses many customer and developer complaints. Is this the dawn of mobile gaming or another misguided attempt? With increased demand and barbarian invaders at the gates, Nokia may not have a second chance to lead the way.