Column updated to correct information on game features
Catching the little Pokémon creatures has caught on like the Hula-Hoop, with the real benefit of the game getting people to use augmented reality
We’ve all heard a lot in the news about the rage that’s taken over the country in mobile gaming: millions of people have downloaded Pokémon Go with some obsessed with catching the little Pokémon creatures. The game is distributed by Nintendo (for both the Apple iOS and Google Android mobile apps). It is breaking download records with over 20 million downloads since it was announced on July 6, so the number of users will likely continue to grow over the coming months.
The game is quite clever: by integrating GPS and mapping, the user sees the little Pokémon creatures on their smartphone screen as they travel about. The main objective of the game is to “catch” Pokémon creatures. The map view shows where the creatures are in the far-off background that encourages users to travel to where they are located to catch them. The pursuit can occasionally go too far: two teens were recently caught illegally going across the Canadian border trying to catch the little Pokémon creatures. I haven’t spent much time with it, but I can see why it is so popular.
Pokémon Go was built by Niantic for Nintendo using their Real World Gaming Platform. It uses real world locations to encourage players to search to discover Pokémon creatures. Pokémon Go allows users to find and catch more than a hundred species of the Pokémon creatures as you travel through your surroundings.
The company has strong experience in mapping: John Hanke, the company’s CEO came out of Google where he helped get Google Earth off the ground in 2004. Investors in Niantic include Google, Nintendo and Pokémon Co. Hanke and his team also has strong experience in mobile gaming so Pokémon app came from those roots. The company’s first mobile app was Ingress in 2012 was a Sci-Fi gam that let people battle in a virtual real world to defend various locations.
While the game itself is free, you have to catch the little creatures by throwing the Pokéballs at them. When you run out of Pokéballs, you buy more of them in the game via PokéCoins, which are the currency of the game. That little requirement is generating millions of dollars for the developers (and Apple). There are many other things you can buy with PokéCoins.
Another feature that’s not immediately apparent: a business can buy game items and attach them to Pokémon Stops, which will increase traffic around their business. Then, as people travel around, they will see a Pokémon Stop and look for special creatures. This gives more traffic near the business. It’s funny that when you now see people congregating around a popular public place such as a park or business location, it often is mostly a group of people playing Pokémon.
The in-app purchasing generates revenue that is split multiple ways: Apple 30%, Niantic 30%, Pokémon Co. 30% and Nintendo 10%. In addition, since Nintendo owns 33% of Niantic, it double dips in a sense.
The quality of the Pokémon app appears to be less than great. But, the developers declare that this is the initial (or beta) version. There have been a number of reviews of Pokémon Go, which have suggested a number of improvements with the most important being to improve battery life. The game drains the battery because of the frequency of updating the user’s location via the integrated GPS system.
Is this game just a fad that will slowly die off after a while? Perhaps, but it’s likely to draw in young kids and teenagers for a long time, especially if Niantic adds new features to users interested.
The most important thing that the Pokémon game has done is to get people to accept augmented reality as part of their normal use of a smartphone. AR was a niche area in smartphones until the release of Pokémon Go.
As a result of this app, you’ll soon see augmented reality show up in a number of different places, especially business apps. The next generation of AR will integrate images to geolocation (maps) for business apps that will solve problems such as getting additional information about a product: you hold the camera up to a product, and it will show you more information about it including where you can buy it.
J. Gerry Purdy, Ph.D., is the principal analyst with Mobilocity and a research affiliate with Frost & Sullivan. He is a nationally recognized industry authority who focuses on monitoring and analyzing emerging trends, technologies and market behavior in mobile computing and wireless data communications devices, software and services. Purdy is an “edge of network” analyst looking at devices, applications and services as well as wireless connectivity to those devices. He provides critical insights regarding mobile and wireless devices, wireless data communications and connection to the infrastructure that powers the data in wireless handheld devices. Purdy continues to be affiliated with the venture capital industry as well. He spent five years as a venture adviser for Diamondhead Ventures in Menlo Park, California, where he identified, attracted and recommended investments in emerging companies in the mobile and wireless industry. Purdy had a prior affiliation with East Peak Advisors and, subsequently, following its acquisition, with FBR Capital Markets. Purdy advises young companies that are preparing to raise venture capital, and has been a member of the program advisory board of the Consumer Electronics Association that produces CES, one of the largest trade shows in the world. He is a frequent moderator at CTIA conferences and GSM Mobile World Congress. Prior to funding Mobilocity, Purdy was chief mobility analyst with Compass Intelligence. Prior to that, he owned MobileTrax LLC and enjoyed successful stints at Frost & Sullivan and Dataquest (a division of Gartner) among other companies.
Editor’s Note: Welcome to Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry.
