An industry expert said Sunday at the Consumer Electronic Art's Show in Las Vegas that the iPhone is harming the mobile game industry, at least for the short term.

Travis Boatman, vice president of worldwide studios for Electronic Arts mobile division, told a panel session at the show that Apple's iPhone is a good phone that holds promise for the future of gaming: "But it's a replacement for someone who had a Razr before. They still want their content but there's no distribution platform in place so there's a negative impact on the industry."

Because Apple so far hasn't allowed iPhone users to download just anything, iPhone users may be giving up games that they played on a phone they previously owned, he explained.

"These devices are capable and powerful," he said. "They'll be great in the long term but it will take some time as people adapt to devices."

The problem of transferring games to new phones has actually plagued the mobile gaming industry since its inception. When users upgrade to a new phone, they most often can't bring a game that they bought for their old phone along with them.

Still, the panelists were confident that mobile gaming will pick up in the future. Because smartphone use is growing, users are also becoming more accustomed to the idea of downloading software to their phones.

"Google is training people to install Gmail and maps to their phones," noted Matthew Bellows, general manager and vice president of marketing for Floodgate Entertainment, a game developer. "That could be a game changer from the consumer expectation standpoint."

(Xinhua Nes Agency January 7, 2008)