Although we have a conventional thinking that smartphones in the gaming section is not as good as the traditional mobile handsets of Sony and Nintendo, iOS and Android are giving pretty good competition to those handsets regarding revenue issue. The well known market research firm Flurry Analytics’ recent study has disclosed that iOS and Android have jointly made up 58 per cent of the total revenue that came from the sale of portable gaming software in United States in 2011. In the last year the percentage was on 34 per cent. In contrast to the rising of iOS and Android Nintendo’ DS has dropped down from 57 per cent in 2010 to 36 per cent in 2011. Sony’s PSP has contributed only 6 per cent to the total revenue.
Surprisingly in 2009 iOS and Android jointly contributed only 19 per cent to the total income from the sale of portable gaming software while Nintendo’s DS and Sony’s PSP bagged 70 per cent and 11 per cent of market share respectively. That is a remarkable turn for the smartphones. However the market research firm has not yet declared the separate market share numbers of iOS and Android.
According to the firm there are many issues that are responsible for marking such growth in favor of smartphones. For instance, the elevated adoption rate of the latest smartphones in market, the handiness of using a single device and the collection of low-priced quality titles unlike the portable gaming systems have attracted more and more customers to smartphones. The easiness and fun of playing on a touchscreen have also drawn people to smartphones.
According to the forecast of Flurry Analytics the income from portable gaming software will be $ 3.3 billion by 2011. Nintendo is expected to achieve $ 1.2 billion while Sony’s share will be $ 200 million. Now we just have to wait and watch how Nintendo and Sony face the rapid growing popularity of iOS and Android in gaming market.