• Advertising Age, Thursday, November 13, 2008 11:31 AM

Apple's iPhone 3G and its game-heavy AppStore may well push mobile gaming into the mainstream, Ad Age reports, in much the same way that the Web brought casual gaming to the masses. The trade pub points out that it wouldn't be very difficult for the likes of Apple and Google to develop an in-game ad network for their mobile phones.

Google, for example, already owns an in-game network. Microsoft, which owns the in-game ad network Massive Incorporated, is also rumored to be working on its own phone. Sony, which has the PSP portable gaming device and the Sony-Ericsson line of phones, is also rumored to be working on a PSP phone. It has its own in-house in-game advertising team and has partnered with ad networks like IGA.

"The thing with casual gaming is that it hits a much bigger demographic than console games that just tend to attract younger men, so now with mobile gaming you have an even greater potential for generating ad revenue, more than PC games ever could. More people have phones than PCs, and they're using them more often and with more [downtime and] opportunities for gaming," said Rob Enderle, principal of the Enderle Group. A recent study from NPD Group corroborates those claims, finding that smartphone users play games more often than they use business-related functions. According to the study, playing games was the most increased use of the phones over the last three months.

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