Pronouncing an achievement commensurate with the birth of the iPod, Steven P. Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., in January 2007 unveiled the iPhone -- the California company's long-anticipated entry into the mobile world.
The creation's sleek look paired with Wi-Fi and computing capabilities, a crisp, colorful display and most of all, a touch-screen interface, meant thousands of the company's notoriously brand-inculcated consumers (this journalist among them) weathered long lines in June 2007 to purchase one of the most talked-about products in the wireless world -- ever.
Just recently, the company went to market with the handset's latest version, a million of which were sold on its debut weekend in July, and by the end of August, two million more.
The redesigned handset can run on 3G -- or third-generation -- wireless networks, which allow faster Internet-connection and download speed than its 2G predecessors. Competition has yet to meaningfully intensify, however, as Samsung's Instinct -- positioned as a so-called "iPhone killer" -- has been anything but.
So, with features seemingly conducive to tactile, interactive gambling games, where -- if anywhere? -- does I-gaming mesh with the hot potato of the mobile world?
Marcel Puyk: I have no doubt that the iPhone will have a positive impact on the mobile world. Even though it is likely to remain a relatively minor phone in terms of the volume of handsets shipped, the completely innovative approach that Apple have taken to the design of the user interface has created a buzz in the mobile content market, and set a benchmark for others to follow.
The iPhone has created a huge buzz in the market and it has focused people’s attention more on the possibility to use the phone as an entertainment device rather than as just a phone. The news this week that over 100 million applications have already been downloaded through Apple’s online store is further testament to this. Amongst that, one of the most popular applications downloaded is a non-connected poker game, showing that there is an appetite for gambling applications.
I believe that there will be a direct impact for gambling applications on the iPhone because it enables a very rich experience, which will appeal to gamblers. I also believe there will be a secondary and much larger effect however, as other handset manufacturers follow Apple’s lead and launch media rich and very user-friendly handsets, and of mobile users in general becoming more aware of the capabilities of their non-iPhone type handsets and start to discover mobile content, and gambling and betting applications in particular.
Mr. Puyk is the chief executive officer of Cellectivity, a mobile gambling technology company in London.
Charles P. Cohen: Oh, the iPhone/gambling question.
The short answer is: The iPhone will have no impact on mobile gambling in its own right. How can it, when Apple won’t let real-money gambling applications be distributed through iTunes -- even in places where it is legal to use them. Don’t ask me why, I’ve never understood Californians.
We looked at cheating, creating a browser based application, that doesn’t require anyone’s permission. You can check it out on YouTube -- iPhone blackjack. It looked cool, but offered only a world of pain when it came to security, resilience, and marketing. I know other people are trying it and I wish them luck; they’ll need it.
This doesn’t mean that the iPhone doesn’t matter, because where Apple leads others must surely follow.
The obvious -- but lesser -- effect will be on phones themselves. People like Motorola, Nokia and Samsung who actually know how to make phones will cherry-pick the best bits of iPhone for their own devices, like touch screens and GPS. But these are expensive toys to build into a mobile and only premium handsets will have the pleasure. The rest of us will have to wait.
For me, by far the biggest impact of iPhone will be, along with Google’s Android mobile platform, to further speed up the mass adoption of mobile internet services. If consumers are online from their phones, we can sell them our services. If they’re not, we have no way to reach them and less chance of interesting them. This, more than anything else, is the true tipping point for mobile gambling.
Mr. Cohen is the chief executive officer of Probability, a mobile gambling operator in London.
Christian Rajter: I believe that the iPhone has changed the way we look at mobile phones and the actual handsets.
The iPhone is not a revolutionary device from a technical perspective; it hasn’t really brought a lot of new features that haven’t already existed in other handsets. However where other mobile phones have had only a couple of features (depending on the category of that particular product, business phone, smart phone, walkman phone, etc.) the iPhone has brought together almost all of these features in one handset.
Not to mention the packaging! Apple has done a great job in focusing on superior user experience and this is what matters to consumers once the technology isn’t the key selling point anymore. This is, according to me, the big distinguisher between the iPhone and all the other mobile phones.
Superior user experience is key when promoting games and the offering of a more user-friendly platform combined with faster connection will surely convince more punters to use their mobile handsets for gambling purposes. You can throw dice with the flick of your wrist instead of clicking buttons!
For mobile gaming this opens up big opportunities, all other handset manufacturers will have to follow the iPhones path in creating mobile handsets that are more like mobile platforms, with bigger and better screens, good browsers and high-speed network connections and of course the possibility to call. This will bring mobile gaming a big step closer to the Internet gaming.
With the iPhone came a paradigm shift, the phone isn’t a phone any more, it is so much more!
Mr. Rajter is the chief executive officer of Mobenga, a privately held mobile technology company in Sweden.