Date:21/06/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/bline/ew/2004/06/21/stories/2004062100230400.htm

Back The game has begun

Nokia India has launched a new mobile phone model in what is a critical test. For Nokia wants to see the mobile games market grow.

NOKIA India recently launched a new model of its mobile phone - the N-Gage QD. Not surprising, considering mobile phone model launches are dime a dozen. But this one is a critical test for Nokia that wants to see the mobile games market grow.

Says Gautam Advani, multimedia business director, Nokia India, "We want to target users in the 18-35 years range. The concept of mobile games is still nascent."

But how does Nokia see the market grow here? After all, there are still souls that find even jabbing numbers on a mobile phone painful. Says Advani, "This is meant for the young and those with a youthful mind." Hence the target-age.

The phone also encourages interactivity among a group of users. He says, "If a group of friends goes out to a club for a game of cards on a Sunday evening, it could well group up to play mobile games using their respective phones." So, sitting across each other, a group of four or five can play group games.

He does admit that not too many would buy a mobile phone purely as a mobile gaming device.

According to him, "They would view it first as a mobile phone." And because of the "rich experience" it offers you in gaming, Nokia expects you to get hooked. Towards this end, it is doing up a web site, the N-Gage Arena (arena.n-gage.com), that wants to create a community of users. These players play with each other and help each other out with advancing across levels in the games. There is even a tip-off section that helps beginners reach a certain level quickly. Then, for those who want to raise the level of their game, the game that reached the best score is stored for download. Says Advani, "Anyone in the community can download that game, and retrace the steps leading to the highest score." Nokia has also instituted awards to the best gamers.

Nokia is also beginning sales of game cards. These are cards that can be loaded into the mobile phone and the user can then play a rich-experience game. Typically, one card carries one rich-experience game.

Asked if the rest of the world had any clues to offer India as to how the mobile games market would grow, Advani says "this is a nascent area."

eWorld team