Asia-Pacific Leads World In 3G Uptake
Asia-Pacific consumers continue to lead the world in terms of third generation (3G) mobile uptake, with 28% of users found to play single-player mobile games on a weekly basis, versus 13% in Europe and 8% in North America.
Yuanzhe Cai, director of broadband and gaming at Parks Associates, explained: “Cellular operators in North America and Europe are lagging behind their Asia-Pacific counterparts in mobile gaming, but they are starting to increase their focus on this area.”
He continued: “Large game publishers are also re-evaluating market opportunities and investing heavily in the space, so with wider deployments of 3G mobile networks and the continued development of feature-rich handsets with gamer-friendly designs, these regions should be able to reduce the international gaming gap.”
The Networked Gaming: Driving the Future report, claims that the mobile gaming market could benefit from innovations such as cross-platform designs that position a mobile phone as an extension platform to online PC and console games.
Other innovations the report mentions include the integration of location-based services (LBS), social networking, and multiplayer mobile gaming.
The strength of the Asia-Pacific mobile phone market is confirmed by research from NPD Group, showing Japanese consumers were more likely to use a wide array of features on their handsets, including wireless mobile email, ringtone downloads, mobile gaming, picture messaging, digital music listening, video messaging, and mobile TV and video (see Japanese Consumers Surge Ahead In Advance Mobile Uptake).
Elsewhere, M:Metrics recently revealed that 3G users in the UK and Germany are five times more likely to use the multimedia capabilities of their handsets, using messaging and gaming, watching video and downloading new content (see UK And Germany Lead 3G Adoption).
Juniper Research expects 3G technology to enjoy a surge in use, with worldwide subscribers predicted to reach over 300 million by 2010, up from 30 million in 2004.
