Mobile Etch-A-Sketch

Ovum analyst John Delaney comments on a new casual game introduced by UK mobile operator Orange that is based on the long-time toy industry standby - Etch-A-Sketch.

The no-tech doodling tablet has been ported to the mobile world and users "can draw on their mobile phone screens using keypads. The drawings can be saved on the phone. To delete the drawings, users press '0 and the phone vibrates - mimicking the shaking motion on the old Etch-A-Sketch."

The new game takes Delaney back to his childhood, and he makes some good observations about the current mobile scene:

"Alright, putting Etch-A-Sketch on a phone is a bit wacky, but then it's pretty wacky to expect people to buy a tinny 20-second clip of a song, and pay three times as much for it as they would for a hi-fi copy of the whole thing. But ringtones have turned out to be pretty popular. We like Orange's idea of mobile Etch-A-Sketch. The key, we think, is not to make it too slick: the clunkiness and lack of sophistication were an integral part of this toy's appeal."

Delaney also ruminates about other childhood favorites that might make good mobile games. Suffice it to say, casual games are driving the current mobile gaming market due to a host of network, handset design and memory issues, and Orange just might have a winner on its hands as long as customers can find the game on their network....

via Ovum