Games Twice as Popular on iPhone than Android, BlackBerry; Smartphone Users Play Similar Kinds of Games

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- On the heels of Apple's iPad announcement, Mplayit today released a survey that underscores iPhone users' strong interest in mobile games as compared to Android and BlackBerry users on Mplayit's popular app store on Facebook.

With games making up only 20 percent of the over 130,000 iPhone apps available on the Mplayit site, nearly 50 percent of the site traffic centered on games. Among Android users, only 20 percent of browsing focused on gaming applications. Even BlackBerry users are more fun-loving than Android users, with about 30 percent of activity coming from the games category on the Mplayit site.

"iPhone developers are driving this phenomenon, putting out simply fantastic games that get people excited," said Michael Powers, founder and CEO of Mplayit. "But the 'developer catch up' is underway on Android. And although Blackberry is renowned for apps, it continues to be underrated and overlooked as a games platform.''

Mplayit is the company best known for its groundbreaking new social mobile app store on the Facebook platform supporting the full application catalogs for iPhone, BlackBerry and Android devices. Users can rate, comment and recommend individual apps to their social network on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to browsing friends' app collections and following their interests.

Mplayit's findings, drawn from live data collected from over 50,000 users of its Facebook app store over a two week period ending January 29, highlights the kinds of games that were popular for each of the three major smartphone audiences.

The most active game categories on all three platforms were largely identical: Arcade, Casual, Card/Casino and Puzzle. However, there were some significant differences in taste across platforms.

Music games were particularly popular on the iPhone, befitting its media-centric iPod heritage. Android users showed a predilection toward 'geeky' games making innovative use of things like the GPS, camera and augmented reality, and the BlackBerry audience gravitated toward television and movie tie-ins.

There were also some significant commercial differences. BlackBerry users stuck with major franchises and larger publishers, reflecting perhaps the carrier-centric history of the device. Indie developers hold their own against the big games publishers on the iPhone, and continue to dominate the Android's relatively immature market.

"Intense competition on the iPhone makes it increasingly hard for stuff to surface," said Powers. "Android is a less crowded, even playing field that we expect will grow and grow quickly."

"What are people playing?"

iPhone

Top-3 most popular iPhone games at Mplayit in each of the top-5 most popular categories.

47% of most popular iPhone apps at Mplayit are games.

Android

Most popular Android games at Mplayit in each of the five most popular categories.

20% of most popular Android apps at Mplayit are games.

BlackBerry

Most popular BlackBerry games at Mplayit in each of the five most popular categories.

30% of most popular BlackBerry apps at Mplayit are games.

About Mplayit

Mplayit is the leading global provider for online playable discovery and social merchandising of mobile games and applications. The company's proprietary software solutions enable mobile content providers to better merchandise, market, and interact with a targeted user audience of mobile consumers. Mplayit is backed by New Atlantic Ventures. For more information, visit mplayit.com or email info@mplayit.com. You can also follow Mplayit on Twitter: @Mplayit.

SOURCE Mplayit

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