Katie MarsalHaving received a phenomenal response to a Web-based version of its "Bejeweled" game for the iPhone, PopCap now has its sights set on developing additional games that would run natively on the Apple handset, a company representative said this week.
Although that figure pales in comparison to the 10 million copies of the game that have been sold for other devices, it's still pretty good considering that only a few hundred thousand iPhones are believed to have been sold thus far, Reuters reported.
"There are a lot of passionate Mac users here in the company. They looked at the iPhone and thought this would be really cool to do 'Bejeweled' on," Stein said. "We don't typically make announcements about what's in the pipeline, but based on the success of 'Bejeweled', we're looking pretty closely at the iPhone."
PopCap isn't the only game developer reported to be expressing interest in the iPhone. Electronic Arts (EA), which recently renewed a bond with Apple's Mac platform, said it sees the handset as an ideal platform for casual games.
"We're huge believers in the iPhone and believe that's going to be a viable market going forward," said Travis Boatman, vice president of worldwide studios for the mobile division of EA. "It has an amazing interface for games and there are lots of beautiful things you can do with that touch interface."
Boatman, however, acknowledged that Apple's initial priority with the iPhone is to stabilize the platform at its core before branching out into new areas, similar to the way it handle the iPod during its infancy.
"The first few iPods didn't support games but eventually they did," he said.
Reuters' report on the matter arrives just two weeks after the New York Post ran a similar column on the prospect of iPhone games, in which it cited sources who implied Apple was setting itself up for a showdown with Nintendo.
AppleInsider Staff
Malcolm Owen
Oliver Haslam
Andrew O'Hara
Wesley Hilliard
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
10 Comments
Escape Velocity for iPhone.
That would kick ass.
-Clive
I would love to see GunBound made for the iPhone. Then we could get GunBound on the Mac.
Well, my vote goes to Frenzic.
I'm pretty certain they are interested. The fact that they are talking generally suggests that they have no such deal. I'm not sure it makes any sense for them to be talking about it if they want to retain a plausible hope of getting in on such a deal. It's a lot like those press releases for device components, they say it could be used in iPods, but if they are saying that, then that means they don't have a deal. I think Apple requires that device makers not talk about the supplier's relationship with Apple, particularly for parts that would go into an unannounced product.
The independent SDK being developed, and that has already resulted in at least one GUI based program, despite its infancy, would tend to indicate that companies won't have to wait for Apple if Apple refuses to get involved with their own SDK.
The program installer also just developed works very well, and is fairly easy to install. Before too long it will have a GUI added, so that the few, simple Terminal steps needed won't be a turnoff.
I don't know if Apple can, or will, attempt to stop all of this, or whether they are allowing it, to use as a marketing tool to judge interest.
The could also be using it as an excuse to allow these programs that they said they wouldn't, and then blame the unauthorized programs if the system becomes unstable.
If they can't, or won't, stop it, then shortly we will see the third party developer industry grow up around the iPhone, just as we all want it to.