Game on for mobile

Recently I was sitting in an airport lounge waiting to catch my flight for the final table of the WPT Bay 101 Shooting Star, when I overheard Mike Sexton behind me say, 'Welcome to the World Poker Tour!' I was in Los Angeles. Mike was in San Jose. That didn't quite add up. I turned and saw a young, 20-something guy playing WPT Hold'em Showdown on his mobile phone, completely engrossed in the game and entirely unaware that his plane was boarding.

Although no real money was on the line, this man was still so consumed he nearly missed his flight. I shouldn't have been surprised. Our mobile products have been downloaded more than 16 million times. Our iPhone game, released this spring, was tagged 'What's Hot' by Apple and has propelled up the download charts. After launching a Facebook application a year ago, our game has consistently been ranked one of the top five most popular poker products on Facebook.

WPT has always been known as an innovator. We were one of the first to market mobile games and now are gaining great traction in the social world.  Mobile and social applications are not only vitally important to World Poker Tour's future, but also for the future of poker in general.

2010 was a banner year for these markets. But with the iPad and other tablets gaining traction, mobile and online convergence will really take hold as 2011 plays out.  We have crossed the tipping point. Social and mobile gaming has reached a critical mass, with enough users rushing to jump into the fray to make marketers salivate over the prospects.

Rush to market

Consider that 60% of smartphone users download apps, smartphones are 45% of new handset sales and 40% of 500 million Facebook users play games on the site, equalling 200 million 'gamers' The numbers are staggering and yet we've barely touched the surface. One of the things that happened early on when poker entered the social media/mobile gaming world was a dilution in the class of the game.

The graphics, the interactions and the overall experience left much to be desired. Products were rushed to the market to be first, instead of concentrating on the needs of the player. Feature phones were functionality restrictive. There were some games that were hard to even describe as a poker product. Sure there's a table, hole cards and chips, but they were poker in the way a Vespa is a motorcycle.

Many smaller and unlabelled brands have already tried their hand at this space only to crash and burn. Why have we survived where others have failed? WPT has always placed high priority on delivering a quality player experience whether you are playing in a casino or on your phone.

The development of smartphones has been a boon to us and the rest of the industry. Robust functionality of these new smartphones and tablets give big brands an opportunity to make their mark with compelling poker products outside of the traditional live and real money gaming online vehicles. Improved device capabilities as well as the development of cross-platform properties will soon provide a truly seamless user experience.

Not surprisingly, many in the industry have overlooked mobile and social gaming as revenue streams since micro-transactions and other forms of product monetisation are still in their nascent states. But those of us who have jumped in early haven't been disappointed. Consumers moving away from feature phones and toward smartphones that can handle more robust functionality is a great opportunity for gaining a revenue foothold in tightly regulated markets.

But whatever the availability of real money, online or casino gaming in a player's neighbourhood, free play and non-gaming revenue driven games are a great way to provide multiple touch points. They offer an avenue to keep a customer engaged in your brand no matter the state of his or her pocketbook and therefore provide the invaluable benefit of broadening the connection with your fans.

Innovate to succeed

The winners and losers in the mobile/social markets are separated by one word - innovation. This market doesn't slowly evolve, it leaps ahead in great bounds of technological improvement. Those who can rise to meet this challenge and understand that products must be constantly refreshed to keep the attention of consumers will survive.

We are constantly redesigning our games, pushing to consistently better our products. We know customers play because they want to feel that excitement - the energy, the sports orientation, the drama, the highs and lows of a real tournament every time they play our app.

We will continue to blur the boundaries between online and offline, mobile and online, real money and free play experiences every chance we get. And you can already do something on your phone that you can never do at a real WPT event - play against me. I await you on the virtual table.