There's millions to be made in mobile gaming. We all knew that. The latest market projections predict that worldwide mobile gaming end-user revenue will grow from $2.9 billion in 2006 to $9.6 billion in 2011 (source The Gartner Group). Thys year's is predicted to be $4.3 billion in 2007, which is a 50 per cent rise on 2006.

Gaming revenue will surpass TV and adult content, says Tuong Huy Nguyen, senior research analyst at Gartner, but the really big money spinner will continue to be music, since “music is a more familiar form of entertainment.”

Why? Growing familiarity with handsets among consumers are driving demand. Supply is help by improvements in 'monetising' the opportunity. “More operators have opened up their billing systems during the past couple of years, giving content providers the opportunity to sell products direct to the consumer,” he says.

It'll get better as the machines get even more powerful.

“One of the things driving mobile gaming in developed markets is the availability of faster processors in mobile devices, which enable faster response times, 3-D graphics and advanced sound capabilities, as well as less-expensive and bigger storage capabilities for memory-intensive games,” said Nick Ingelbrecht, research director at Gartner. “At the same time, simple stripped-down games that capitalise on location-awareness and personal interaction are interesting for aficionados.”

In Germany they like strategy and quiz games. The British like sports and puzzle games.

“Network speeds and 3G deployments have also had an impact on mobile gaming update and data adoption in general,” Mr. Nguyen said. “2.5G data rates have made downloading, and especially browsing, tedious, deterring significant adoption of mobile games.”

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