Mobile billing company M-Biz Global says that its 2008 sales of SIM-free or vanilla mobile games soared by 62% in EMEA compared to the previous year. The company attributes the increase in sales to the ease-of-use of its service, and to the credit crunch, as consumers less willing to spend money going out seek relatively low-cost entertainment on their mobile.
M-Biz Global says it saw a 50% increase in the number of mobile games sold in the UK in December 2008, compared to the average monthly sales over the rest of the year, and a 21.29 % increase across EMEA. The most popular game in the UK was Mini Golf Las Vegas from Digital Chocolate, and Christmas Day was the most popular day in December for mobile game downloads, with six times the average number of daily game downloads.
The vanilla handset market represents approximately 30% of all handset sales, and according to M-Biz Global, is rapidly attracting the attention of leading mobile game publishers. M-Biz Globals TryNBuy service enables consumers, within just a few clicks, to be playing the games they want.
Our TryNBuy solution is giving casual gamers an easy and affordable purchasing option for entertaining mobile games, says M-Biz Global CEO, Hyongsuk Kim. Within a couple of clicks, they can be enjoying the game whenever and wherever they choose. 
