According to the market analyst Gartner it has a very great potential: By the end of this year, a growth of 16.1% is expected. This means the market of mobile games will cross the 4.5 billion USD milestone. In comparison to the music market the mobile games market has not yet caught up, but experts prophesy a great future.

Nevertheless, there are still some obstacles to be overcome. On the developer conference Quo Vadis in Berlin, they were talking about the impediments to growth: In general, users should be informed better. The fear of download charges, costs that are not obvious to the buyers or subscription fees runs deep, and makes many potential customers keep their hands off mobile gaming.

Many people are not aware of the fact that you cannot only have a conversation on the phone, but also play games. A further problem is the download: How that works technically is a mistery to many users.

Another problem is the great amount of games that is pushed onto the market every month. Quality and innovation are literally steamrolled. Most of the games are sold in the categories novelties, top 10 and recommendations. After a short period of time, they disappear and sink into oblivion. Thus, the development of high quality games is not worth the effort.

Despite all these problems the mobile games market is growing. In the US, revenues increased from 345 million dollars in the year 2004 to 600 million dollars in the year 2005. For the year 2008, a rise to 1.5 billion dollars is expected.

Mobile games like Snake or Tetris are still among the most popular ones: Simple and entertaining. After all, who likes reading game instructions of complicated games while waiting for the bus. The size of the display limits the time people play. Only hardcore game fanatics can stare at the mini display for three hours or more. Thus, the possibilites and limitations of the cell phone should be taken into account when developing mobile games. The best games are the ones that are developed especially for the cell phone, and that are not just a poor copy of famous console or computer games.

The mobile games market definitely has a great potential. Thus, we can look forward to what the games industry will come up with in the future. The more multimedia the cell phone includes, the more possibilities. I am looking forward to mobile gaming fun wherever I am, and whenever I want!!