Born to be Wireless

"In 2007 I predict even more hype to be focused around music, video and TV. Music will continue to be a great success, but I think the jury is still out on Mobile TV. Games developers and publishers will have to deal with even more fragmentation, but despite this will continue to produce some great products. Oh, and please Apple open up the iTunes Games platform to the mobile development community, this has to be the way forward for D2C content."
Brian Rodway - MD at Affinity Studios

"In 2007, Bazix is to release MSXPLAYer-GS60, which makes it possible to play thousands of classic retro games - originally released on the multi-million selling MSX computer system - on the Symbian Series 60 (v2 and upwards) mobile phones. With this, we will bring a large variety of addictive, small (mostly only a few kilobytes) and high quality games to the Series 60 platform. This service responds to the demand for better, easy to distribute and commercially proven game concepts."
Sander Zuidema - MD at Bazix

"2007 will be the year when native gaming content really takes off. Number of smartphone models increasing dramatically so everyone can find a suitable design, available with contracts or on handset renewal at an indecent low price, installed base representing an important part of the global mobile market, rumours of very big names in the video game market working on it, users realizing what native gaming really offers... And no, native gaming doesn't mean 3D! It means a lot more than that."
Michael EL BAKI - CEO at BitRabbit

"During 2007, BGIn will start-off with a specific mobile dept to help leveraging the Benelux mobile game community. This on various domains like business support, educational input, standardisation, European representation to name but a few."
Tommy Goffin - CEO at BGIn

"2007 is going to be a breakthrough year for mobile 3D gaming. Another few trends to watch here are multiplayer games, as they become more and more popular, and, on the other hand, increased number of casual mobile titles. Still, the market is growing and 2007 is going to be a significant year for both mobile gamers and developers."
Dmitry Avdeev - Business Development Manager at Boolat Mobile

"2007 will definitely see better and more convenient games for customers. Because of in-game advertising and growing off-deck channels, games will be available at lower prices and to more customers. Breakpoint is boldly progressing in this direction, featuring strong in-house development and attractive publishing channels. The recent deal with Tribune and AcrNum shows Breakpoint’s commitment to forge global, independent and user-friendly channels for distribution of quality content."
Ludwik Zoltowski - Sales and Business Development Director at Breakpoint

"I think 2007 may finally offer a first glimpse of the real potential of connected gaming on mobile. As 3G networks deployment has been completed on most major Carriers, billing plans are becoming more conducive to larger data consumption, and advanced multimedia handsets continue to proliferate, it seems as if all the key ingredients are in place for the advent of connected gaming. I think simple connected games that cast the widest net at the potential demographic have the highest probability of becoming financially successful. Furthermore, albeit not yet in 2007, LBS will allow mobile games to leverage the type of gaming experience that can not be duplicated on any other gaming medium. This is what I personally look forward to the most.
I also expect 3D mobile games to continue their strong performance in 2007, as they have been validated by the market in 2006. The popularity of 3D games will continue to grow, as the handsets with embedded GPUs are introduced to the market, and the current leading edge devices assume the mass market norm."
Tom Frencel - MD at Capybara Games

"2007 will see an explosion in availability of ad-sponsored content for phones, with ad networks, Google, Yahoo and specialized search firms entering the mobile ad market in force and providing a solid revenue baseline for publishers and portals. In-game advertising will continue to make inroads, but will evolve away from "sponsored by" and towards measurable product placement as time progresses."
Arthur Goikhman - CEO at Cellufun.com

"2007 will be the year that will see 3D games on mobile and Connected gaming break through to the mobile mass market. I can see another round of industry consolidation and key partnerships as publishers realise that there are only a handful of really good development studios out there. I predict 2 major mobile publisher acquisitions by the major traditional console players with no real presence in this market. 3 UK's lowering of it's walled garden internet will see a golden market opportunity for mobile content portals offering current and yet to be exploited always-on mobile services. Ultimately, 2007 will be the year of less is more in mobile. There will be less volume (and sales) of poor games on decks and portals and more focus on quality made-for-mobile games where the sales volumes are going to be."
Mark Ettle - MD at Cobra Mobile

"2007 will be the year in which it will be more tempting for consumers to download games to their mobile phones. Consumers will be able to try mobile games before they buy them and the consumer can get ad subsidized games for free. Further we will see more flat rate data plans with operators which will make a global launch of mobile multiplayer games more realistic."
Peter de Jong - CEO at Codeglue

"2007 will be the year VC's start to find out if their investments have been worthwhile as several pure-play publishers perform their exit strategy. We'll also see the demise of some development studios as publishers focus on fewer, higher quality titles. One thing is for certain - we'll be seeing many more devices with new features that will continue to push development costs ever higher."
Nigel Little - MD at Distinctive Developments

"2007 will be THE year so far for mobile gaming. With handset fragmentation slowly but surely being reduced and the increasing number of high-spec gaming handsets on the market, more larger and complex game ideas will be given the chance to truly flourish on the platform."
Brian McNicoll - MD at Dynamo Games

"I will be 47.
Elite will be 24.
Al-Qaida will attack the mobile internet, and chaos will ensue. If you type "Paperboy" into Google -- misspelling the name of the popular 80s arcade game -- the search engine will respond, "Did you mean: Al Jazeera?"
You’re kids will ask: if you can tune a piano why can’t you tuna-fish?
Our new mobile game “Atlantis Quest” will prove to be “… a cure for addiction to Bejewelled 2”.
Mobile Entertainment magazine will publish this list."
Steve Wilcox - Managing Director at Elite

"2007 will be the year where smartphones go mainstream. One of the big drivers for the success of smartphones will be the availability of useful content. Content for Smartphone’s running on Symbian, Windows, Palm, Blackberry, Brew and soon Linux offer better value and better user experience to end-users then they are used to with Java phones. This being said, it will take all parties within the Ecosystem, including MNO, handset manufacturers and CPs, to join forces and really deliver the promise."
Edwin Oosterkamp - International Business Development Manager at Filao Mobile

"Downloads will keep on growing as the handset penetration and customer awareness grows. During 07 we will se a few more mergers and new emerging players joining the mobile games industry. Brands will keep on playing an important role, but casual games and women playing mobile games will be a big part of all the downloads. As for the way games are sold, I see more demos being given out, more operators opening new ways of charging their customers (rent, pay per-play and subscription) Within the operators I see a couple of the big players outsourcing their games platform to third parties."
Borja Aragon - Managing Director at Gaapco Ltd.

"Our recent acquisition of Daydream Mobile has greatly increased our customer base and strengthened our business relationships with mobile operators, publishers, and mobile phone manufacturers. Going into the new year, we are now in a position to offer our customers a complete toolset to create, implement and distribute mobile applications. Gamefederation is stronger than ever. In 2007 we look forward to further expansions of our products and services, through organic growth and acquisitions."
Thomas Lindgren - CEO at Gamefederation

“In 2007 mobile content creators will have the ability to leverage a closed loop in the mobile advertising-distribution-monetization cycle. For the first time they will be able to:
1) Reach the mobile consumer through mobile advertising
2) Directly fulfil through alternate distribution channels like GameJump.com
3) Generate immediate revenue from ads delivered through their content (WAP, in-application, etc.)
4) Go to step (1), and repeat as desired.
The mobile industry has long been envious of this value chain that supports the majority of the online web. 2007 is the year this model will explode in the mobile world.”
Michael Chang - Founder and CEO at Greystripe

"For the year 2007 the management of HandyGames™ forecasts a hard fight for market shares on the European mobile games market. Germany’s largest independent mobile games publisher will enhance its European position with a strong portfolio consisting of own IPs, licenses and publishing titles and by exploring new business models like advert-gaming. With the help of struggling mid-size competitors the strategy for the upcoming year is clear: Full steam ahead and overtake them!"
Christopher Kassulke - CEO at HandyGames

"We see the stars coming into alignment in 07 for high performance native gaming in Europe, which will rapidly catch up with similar developments in the US and Japan. The proliferation of native OS's such as Symbian and Windows Mobile, and of flat-rate mobile data subscriptions, are great news for driving uptake of higher quality and potentially connected games. It will be especially interesting to see how Linux breaks through as a native platform, coupled with the inevitable spread of BREW gaming in Europe, now that QUALCOMM have established their beachhead with TIM in Italy."
Tim Closs - CTO at Ideaworks3D

"I'd love to be able to predict that multi-player gaming will leap forward within Europe in 07, but while 3 and T-Mobile have started to take steps in the right direction with flat-rate data plans, we re still some way off. Instead I think ad-funded mobile games will be the big talking point within the trade, and it will be interesting to see to what degree consumers buy into this concept in '07."
John Chasey - VP Mobile Games at Infospace

"In 2007 we still see casual games as to lead the mobile games market but the consumer experience needs to be improved with more quality gameplay and original titles. Console games publisher and independent developers will be leading the evolution towards quality. JavArt is already working in this direction, concentrating on quality and original IPs. We look forward to cooperate with top console publishers to make top games and in case explore the opportunity to porting our games across platforms"
Alfio Lo Castro - CEO at JavArt

"In 2007 we will see further consolidation, be it by M&A, downsizing or players exiting the market altogether. After a period of strong growth the pace has slowed down a little and the next 1-2 years will see a reorganisation of the industry as a whole. For us this has had surprisingly good effects as our sales continue to grow. We are looking to further strengthen our position as a strong European mobile publisher and distributor. 2007 is the most important year our industry has faced so far."
Michael Kaartinen - General Manager at Kaasa solution

"Consumers are getting smarter. Why buy a ringtone if you can record in from a MP3 on your computer? Why buy wallpapers if the super mega pixel camera allows you to take a great picture for free? For games it’s more difficult, but smart consumers will find their ways into ad funded game portals. Sure there are consumers that hate the adverts, but most will regard it as a perfect alternative for saving £3.00. This will drive down the revenue developers get per download, but skyrocket the download volumes. As far as timelines for this big shift in ad-subsidised content goes, this will take less than a year in my opinion, considering that two our of three of the main content groups, namely ringtones and wallpapers have already gone down the nearly free route. With games it’ll require only a few consumer brands to step into an ad-funded model and that will be the start of the big shift."
Karl Woods - EVP, Sales & Marketing at Kiloo

"2007 will be a difficult year for many small to medium mobile content developers but interesting regards ad-wrapped content that will make further waves in the industry, releasing some strangleholds over path to market for many developers. We will see more consolidations amongst the big players whilst some of the smaller ones will perhaps disappear altogether! Further developments with Flash Lite may arise as it matures into something worth actually producing content for."
Adrian Cummings - CEO at Mobile Amusements

"2007 will probably show the difference between the big companies with bundles of cash to spread around, and the smaller developers jumping into adver-gaming and taking the most out of a growing mobile-game awareness on portals and websites. This could very well mean problems for those in between who want to be big and bad, but have no funding to back it up. Sadly the branded games will still try to mimick their console counterparts, and fail terribly. And I still predict 2007=google+advergaming"
Pascal Bestebroer - CEO at OrangePixel

"2007 will be the year in which mobile gaming communities will pick up with the rise of the mobile gaming trend of increasing favouritism for multiplayer games. Through incentives, interaction and gift redemption systems, the number of gamers participating in mobile communities will continue to grow, directly increasing the ARPU of mobile operators involved. In 2007, Ozura Mobile will continue our contribution to mobile entertainment industry through our community platform services."
H.E Mah - VP of Marketing at Ozura Mobile

"The year 2007 will bring further consolidation in the industry which will consequently force smaller independent developers to find the niche they could cater. Casual games including well known titles from the PC industry will remain the key driving force and the main element to capture new potential customers. On the other hand, especially on national scale there will be stronger emphasis on advertgames which independent games developers may find interesting to specialise in. "
Mateusz Zagorski - Content Manager at QubicGames

2007 is the year when finally web-to-mobile sales start to pick up for games. The current user behaviour of searching and reading about mobile games online but rarely purchasing will slowly but surely change. This will be good news for big online entertainment portals like Yahoo Games, AOL games and of course RealArcade."
Gunnar Larsen - Head Of Games, Europe at Real Networks

"For the mobile game industry and for our company in 2007; The mobile game industry in general will grow. Not with current markets, but with markets, that weren't able to rise (Slovakia, Poland, ...), and are still doing low shares. Aggregators and platforms will slowly be consolidating, which will generally help mobile game coverage and sales. In addition, mobile game advertising and mobile application ads will grow very massively to a new business, like ad games, ad supported games, etc. "
Jan Rezab - CEO at Redboss

"The mobile gaming revolution will begin in 2007! A sustained onslaught of fresh, innovative and original mobile games will bring the old guard of poor licensed titles and cheap console ports to their knees. This year many publishers will come under increasing pressure to achieve profitability at which point the profit margins of successful own IP titles will start to look very attractive indeed. Proven 'hit maker' studios such as Tag Games will be much in demand and I'll win the lottery!"
Paul Farley - Managing Director at Tag Games

"Partnerships between mobile agencies and developers will grow stronger. This is because, the bottom of the mobile gaming market will be driven by marketing activities of national and global brands. Successful suppliers will be those partnerships that combine media and technological skills to provide exiting brand exposure at equally exiting prices."
Jesper Lindholt - CEO at Touchlink Mobile

"In 2007 we will see the mobile game market mature. We will see new start ups targeting more focus niche demographics. Such as Pocket Elevator focusing on the Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender market with games and content. 2007 will also see mobile advertising take off. Then on the hardware front there's Apple Computer. We will see more consolidation in the market place. 2007 will also bring the raise of the mobile communities. All in all a exciting year."
Randy Shepherd - MD at Werd Interactive