N-Gage Is Dead

Nokia Have Said that they are nolonger going to be making any new N-Gage category phones.

I don't want to flame them for trying something new so I won't rant, but here are just a few reasons why it failed:

1. Overpriced games
   £30 per title vs free or very cheap (£3 per title) games that will run on almost anyphone you like.



2. Limited Title Selection
   The lack of a Killer App to persuade buyers to get an N-Gage made getting customers difficult.



3. Expensive Entry Level Device
   For a customer to get their fist N-Gage and then later hopeful become a loyal customer cost too much (£200+ I think).



4. Crap Controls
   Any gamer looking to buy it as a gaming devise would soon realise after playing on one for less than two minuets that the controls where rubbish and the N-Gage is a phone first and a games system second.



5. Side Talking
   The fist N-Gage required the user to talk into the phone against their head widthways making the N-Gage look like an oversized ear. This certainly didn't give it any street cred as SideTalkin.com shows.



6. Crowded Market
   The Competition was too much. Free Java games all over the internet and Publisher/Developers like GameLoft making their own quality titles for every phone on the market, made it difficult for any casual mobile phone playing gamer to desire anything more. Especially not when the latest Java games look comparable to the overpriced N-Gage titles.