Endeavour Partners

One of the key trends that we’ve been tracking closely is the emergence of the smartphone as a handheld gaming platform:

• the threat it poses to specialized handheld gaming platforms, such as the PSP and Ninetendo DS, which it rivals or surpasses in performance
• how significant an opportunity this may become

Gameloft announced today that it has sold over 6 million paid games:

Gameloft(R), a leading publisher and developer of downloadable video games, today announced that it
has sold over 6 million [paid] games on the App Store.
From the distribution model to the types of games available, the App Store has completely revolutionized the way handheld games are played, perceived and received
The iPhone OS continues to be Gameloft’s number one platform

Clearly, as competition amongst smartphone platforms and smartphone vendors intensifies, one of the key factors that determines the outcome will be how good they are as gaming platforms, how attractive they are to games developers and the strength of their business ecosystem.