• by Josh Lovison , January 14, 2011

Next month will bring the advent of Verizon's iPhone. This is extremely relevant for gaming, as perhaps the biggest gap between Android and the iOS devices is the maturity of their game development. The iPhone is a gaming platform that is freaking out the likes of Nintendo and Sony, and a success Microsoft desperately would like to emulate with WP7. 

What can we expect? I don't think the iPhone will totally wipe out Verizon's Android sales (personally I find Android to be a much better OS for a phone), but it will certainly eat into them. I'm wagering that at least 35% to 40% of Verizon's smartphone sales to existing customers will be iPhones, and that most new smartphone customers will be buying iPhones.

Many of the new Verizon iPhone customers will be coming from AT&T, so the exact numbers of net new iPhone users will be a bit challenging to work out, but rest assured, there will be many. Since Verizon is roughly as large as AT&T in total subscribers, there will be at least a 50% increase to net new iPhone users throughout Q2 of this year, compared to previous quarters. 

So, a few points to keep in mind regarding the iPhone and games:

The money is in the app: According to Distimo, 49% of 2010's app revenue came from in-< a href="http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fgigaom.com%2F2011%2F01%2F07%2Fiphone-in-app-purchases-almost-equal-to-download-revenue%2F&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNF6fNlswcbwlzXPomei7w8rfTbE7 A">apppurchases, for both free and paid apps. These numbers are less drastic for the iPad, where initial app pricing is higher. So for the iPhone, incremental micro-payments add up. 

Cheaper than an iAd: Want to serve slick ads to the slew of new iPhone users playing games, but feel like the iAd prices are, well, pricy? Create a really nice HTML5 landing page, and any boring banner ad has a near-iAd user experience. You can even use Google's YouTube trick to create an "app" on the phone from that single click. 

Great time for integration: Planning to work with a mobile game developer to integrate your brand into the content? Now's a great time to act. The surge in growth is going to increase overall impressions. If the cost for the integration is based on current installs, you're in for a fortunate surprise.