iPhone 3.0

Hamilton agrees that its down to developers to get their games noticed. "Unless you get really lucky then you certainly need exposure on the App Store. You really do need to try get some sort of feature so your product gets seen. However, viral marketing, outside of the App Store, can also prove to be successful in building up a fan base."

As the iPhone grows as a format, developers are still enthusiastic about the possibilities for the future. For many, the iPhone still remains a unique format over its home console and handheld rivals, and a much more accessible format for talent that wouldn't be able to make a dent on Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo machines.

"The biggest advantage of the iPhone platform over any other gaming platform at the moment is the brilliance of the game delivery process through the App Store," details McNicoll. "The ease of use for developers firstly getting their games live on the platform, then the efficient and simple process for the consumer to buy and feedback on the games, and then the ease of the developer being able to provide updated versions of the software based on user feedback.

"It is all a really amazing and fresh ecosystem that is starting to involve the gaming consumer more than ever before."

"Today I took a look at the top 50 iPhone games in the US and the UK and I think that speaks volumes about the unique opportunities on the format," comments Farley. "The entire market is incredibly open compared to the traditional console game market which is dominated by a few large publishers.

"If you are making, small, cheap yet appealing casual games you have a very active and large installed user base and a potentially lucrative opportunity. The difficulty with small mobile games is that they appear much easier to create than they actually are, but for those that get the mix right it's a pretty exciting space to be right now," he concludes.