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All the entries posted on November 05, 2007.
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Home > Plugged In > Archives > 2007 > November > 05
Monday, November 5, 2007
Hello Google? Where’s my G-phone?
If you were late to the iPhone party and were anxiously awaiting your shot at getting the first “Gphone” …. well, keep waiting.
Google Inc. finally took the wraps off its much-awaited strategy to move into the cell phone business Monday, unveiling a new software package and agreements with more than 30 partners that it says could dramatically advance Internet-type services on mobile phones.
On a conference call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt hinted repeatedly that a Google-branded “Gphone” might still be in the coming - just not yet. The mobile phone industry has been buzzing for months about Google coming out with its own handset, like Apple, and/or its own service, like AT&T, Sprint or Verizon.
If it lives up to its billing, Google’s software package could be just as revolutionary as any handset or service, however.
At its core will be a full-featured Internet browser, like computer users and Apple iPhone users are accustomed to, that can be on all types of new cell phone handsets beginning in 2008. Just as importantly, Google’s software package will be an “open source” platform, meaning other software developers can build and distribute their products more easily than they can today. According to Google, that means cell phone applications like games, video, music - and of course, Google, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Calendar, etc. - will work much better on your phone than they do today.
Read more here:www.openhandsetalliance.com
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Games mirror Hollywood action
I was reading GameDaily Biz at www/gamedaily.com the other day and saw a report by Electronic Entertainment Design and Research on 219 retail and 187 downloadable games for Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 with an “M,” or mature rating.
The study found they had the highest reviewer scores and highest average gross sales in the U.S. even though they made up only 10 percent all U.S. games out there on the market.
In addition, think of all the pre-teens out there that live for these games. They might want to buy “M” titles but their parents probably wouldn’t be buying them for birthdays and Christmas.
But the research firm’s president, Geoffrey Zatkin, had a plausible though not particularly empirical explanation.
Gamers, especially those from the first- and second-generation, are getting older. The average gamer is 29 years old. But games don’t mirror real life. They mirror movies. And what are the most popular movies, at least for young males?
Action movies.
“We’ve been raised on a glorious tradion of Hollywood action,” Zatkin said. That means swearing, bleeding and characters with fantastic-looking bodies. What’s not to like for the teen and twentysomething male?
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