I have written several times about the increasing options in the tablet market and the great opportunities they represent for social game companies. A recent piece on Techcrunch further illuminates this point and makes a great case on why developers should create first for tablets, then turn their attention to smartphones. The author, Tadhg Kelly, points out that Apple has sold over 100 million iPads and in 2–3 years there may be as many as 400 million tablets in the market. Moreover, price points for paid apps on tablets are higher, and Kelly expects greater monetization for free-to-play games due to longer engagement.

I am equally optimistic about prospects for tablets. Amazon’s new line of Kindle Fires will be a huge holiday seller. The devices are attractively priced, and the ability to focus holiday shoppers’ attention on the devices on the Amazon.com home page and through cross promotion ensures millions will see—and many likely buy—the new tablets. Barnes & Noble’s new Nook tablets share a similar advantage. Again, they are very attractive devices at even better price points. Barnes & Noble also has huge retail reach, with 689 stores and 667 college bookstores, all of which will be prominently showing the new Nook tablets during the holiday shopping season. In addition to these very attractively priced devices that will be in consumers’ faces this holiday season, Samsung (the second largest manufacturer of mobile devices) has a strong line of tablets (including the intriguing Galaxy Note Tab). Also, do not forget Google, that little California company, who has the resources to push its attractive Nexus tablet. Continue reading “The need to focus on tablets” →