Mobile games consumption will continue to increase but not at the hyped
up levels we have been led to expect, says Sean Cronin, CEO of Selatra.
Speaking at the opening of the 3GSM World Congress in Barelona, Cronin
said it was time to take stock of the mobile games business and
persuade the GSM content community to face hard questions on why the
predicted mass take-up had not taken place. Cronin said delays in the
market developing would be mainly due to the carriers. 
Multiplayer and massively multiplayer games will grow in market share
if flat rate data bundles are affordable, otherwise carrier greed will
delay this growth into 2008 and beyond, said Cronin. If this happens,
some established developers will merge or fold, while others will have
to diversify into other handheld devices to survive. But the future
will be bright if greed is restrained.
Cronin believes that as carriers continue to reduce deck opportunities
and outsource games platforms, established and trusted aggregators will
grow in importance, but he also expects some innovative solutions to
bypass carriers altogether.
Due to limited carrier deck space opportunities, the off deck and non-OTA channels will receive increased attention, he said.
Cronin predicts that Flash Lite games will finally register on the
revenue radar this year, saying:  There will be enough enabled
handsets in play to justify market investments. He also points to a
potential explosion in advertising-supported games.
2007 is the year when advertisers will finally arrive at the mobile
games and TV trough, he said. Publishers are keen to subsidise their
ever-increasing production costs and advertisers will be eager to get a
slice of a new direct mass market channel. Cronin cautioned, however,
that the real impact of this arrival would not be felt until 2008 and
beyond.