Apple readying iPhone for games?

News

Michael French Aug 13 2007, 10:45am

Apple heading into battle with Nokia, Nintendo and Sony, claims New York Post.

A report in the New York Post today claims that Apple is secretly gearing up to push its iPhone as a gaming platform.

The article cites "various on- and off-the-record sources" as claiming "Apple has been secretly plotting its foray into portable video games for months, looking to add games to its hot iPhone".

"I was told that a major game developer was seeded with iPhone [technology] quite some time ago," comments AppleInsider.com's EIC Kasper Jade.

The NYP also adds: "Apple is expected to make a gaming announcement soon, 'by Macworld in January at the latest,' says Engadget.com editorial director Peter Rojas".

The positioning of iPhone as a mobile games platform, most likely serviced by downloads from iTunes, would put Apple right up against Nokia's soon-to-be unveiled next-gen N-Gage platform, though the latter will be available across a raft of mass-market handsets as opposed to one with very limited availability.

A games-enabled iPhone would also encroach on territory currently occupied by Sony's PSP and the Nintendo DS, though again those devices are available in much nigher volumes.

The iPod itself became gaming compliant with a software update in September last year, with Video iPods able to download a selection of games from iTunes. But Apple has kept the portfolio tightly controlled.

Titles from EA, PopCap and Apple itself (many of them casual oriented or remakes of classics like Bejewelled) have been available since launch, with just one or two added to the line-up since, including a new music quiz game Musika from Parappa the Rapper creator Matsuya Matsuura, released last week.

Some developers, including PopCap, have already utilised the iPhone's web-browser to run games.