The major breakthrough in 2009 has been the establishment of smartphones in the imagination and lives of consumers, claimed Zinder. “That for me is the single biggest achievement in the past year. The smartphone has revolutionised the mobile experience and the way in which content is consumed.
“For Spin3, this has enabled us to change the way we develop and deliver our mobile casino games. In addition to traditional Java-based downloads, we have developed web-based games that eliminate download and install times and deliver razor sharp graphics, creating a gaming experience which is on a par with online.
“This convergence between online and mobile is a very important development for the mobile content industry and the smartphone has been fundamental in getting us to this point,” he stated.
Zinder added that the growth of the smartphone has paved the way for mobile content to be king in 2010. “I think mobile content will be a huge growth area in 2010. Juniper Research has estimated that that the mobile content industry could be worth $167 billion by 2013, which is a fantastic prediction. But I believe the success of mobile content is dependent on the mobile industry overcoming the problems it currently faces with the traditional pay-per-download model, which simply isn’t working anymore.
“Only the few and most successful applications will generate significant revenues - mainly via app stores such as the Apple Store and Android Market - but in most cases, once an application is sold, there’s no opportunity for further sales. With no guarantee that applications will make money, pay-per-download is not a viable business model.
“As the development of mobile content grows in 2010 I think we’ll see a movement away from this pay-per-download model and towards a more collaborative, revenue share model that will bring more, higher quality content to more people than ever before,” Zinder concluded.