Still having problems downloading mobile games via GPRS? Or maybe you haven't bothered trying yet? Don't worry – the mobile entertainment industry isn't going to give up on your custom that easily. At this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, four companies – Blue Cell Networks, e-Plus, July Systems, and THQ Wireless – will be showing off a new "on-the-spot" download solution. It's a 2.2 metre high illuminated blue column that beams games and other entertainment content to Bluetooth phones within a 30 metre radius.
The manufacturers are hoping that highstreet electronics retailers will put these Beamzone hotspots on the shopfloor, giving consumers easy access to mobile content without the costs and frustrations of downloading stuff over the air. There's also talk of pushing free content, news and offers at passers-by, although presumably potential customers will have to opt-in somehow.
Beamzone sounds like a pretty good idea for the industry – not only does it make games easier to actually get onto the phone, it also provides mobile content developers and publishers with a space within the traditional retail arena. And surely a physical presence in a shop is better than having to parade your wares on the Internet or via network provider portals where visibility isn't always easy.
So will this tempt the 95% of phone owners who haven't downloaded a mobile game yet? Or will Beamzone just be something else to knock over in Dixons, causing those embarrassing alarms to go off? It's difficult to say. At least this way developers have more chance of capturing unwary browsers who may not even realise they own bluetooth-capable phones.
But let's not draw the emphasis too far away from making the games more attractive. I mean, we're not giving up on the whole killer app idea yet, are we? Surely, if there's something out there that's absolutely unmissable to the wider public, then eventually the wider public will stumble upon it? Like they did with The Shawshank Redemption. And Suikoden. And international test cricket.
Clever distribution models will only get you so far. Content, as Bill Gates once wrote, is king.
