The games market has been going strong now for well over 30 years. In all it's history, there has never been such a huge change in the market as has been seen recently. Entire new sub-niches within the market have appeared over night, and because of this a lot more people are enjoying video games. Whats more, the types of game selling well have changed dramatically, and even their method of distribution has shifted. Dont be fooled, an awful lot of this change has to do with a a mobile phone we call the iPhone.

The iPhone first caused a stir back in 2007, when it was first released. Many people don't realise, however the iPhone did not launch with the app store. There was no App Store, and no games. Apple saw the primary magic of their new device as a way to browse the internet whilst away from home, and their initial marketing efforts heavily revolved on the 'desktop' internet experience that the iPhone could offer.

It was more than a year until Apple launched the iPhone App Store, a place where any Tom, Dick or Harry could market and sell their software to any one of the many millions of iPhone owners worldwide. It was introduced along with the iPhone 3G, and marked a big change in the way software was rolled-out to mobile devices. No company had even tried to centralise the process, essentially providing a one-stop-shop where anybody could extend the functionality of their mobile device. Digital distribution in video gaming was pretty much unheard of, but the power of this model soon became apparent when combined with a mobile device with an always-on data connection. What business wouldn't desire to be accessible for sales 24-7, while at the same time being carried around in their customer's pockets all the time!

When it was first opened the App Store offered just 500 applications, and hardly anyone coud foresee the gaming potential of Apple's iPhone at all. But move forward to the end of 2008, and by this time games were the number 1 use for smartphones outside of actually using it as a phone, sending emails, and texting. Mobile games had suddenly got bigger than any business application - the intended audience of smartphone devices!

Sure enough, the iPhone rags to riches stories that we are so accustomed to read about these days, were beginning to break.

The first person to make a living via the App Store was a person called Steve Demeter. He spent just $5000 developing the game Trism. After his game released, he very quickly accumulated a quarter of a million dollars in profit in just two months!

Ethan Nicholas was failed to keep up with mortgage payments and medical bills when he read about Steve Demeter's success. He decided that even a small slice of such success could help him turn his life around, and worked day and night for 6 weeks to develop his first game, iShoot. Amateur though this title may seem by today's standards, he eventually sold over two million copies of his game at $2.99 a game!

In more recent times, the huge success of the best-selling iPhone game of all time has shown that these kinds of success stories are still happening. Back in 2009 a struggling Finnish games company short of funds was in the throes of a make-or-break business plan, when one of their designers came up with the idea for some bird-like characters which they eventually built a game around. That game become Angry Birds, a sales phenomenon which has been downloaded over 40 million times! Angry Birds accounts for 200 million minutes of play worldwide, every single day!

Recently the 10 billionth app was downloaded from Apple's App Store, and guess what- it was a game! Her download of Paper Glider netted Gail Davis of the UK a $10,000 iTunes Gift card as a prize. Not bad considering it was a free game!

Growth in mobile gaming doesn't look set to stagnate any time soon. Google are shaping up to be a thorn in Apple's side, with their Android platform, and Microsoft have now entered to market with their Windows 7 Phone. One thing is for certain, it's a great time to be a mobile gamer.