Pachter: iPhone not "viable gaming platform"

Speaking here, Wedbush Morgan's Michael Pachter has dampened enthusiasm for the recent announcement of Apple's gaming SDK for iPhone with a warning that the unit's price may be prohibitive to it achieving mass success as a games machine.

"I don't see it as a viable gaming platform, due to the cost of owning one," he said. "The iPhone costs $400 plus an AT&T wireless subscription for voice and data, I’m guessing this is $80 a month, so the addressable market doesn't really fit the core gamer demographic. To the extent that hip, rich people are an interesting gaming audience, iPhone games will work. My guess is that this group is only interested in the most rudimentary games, and that the market will be small.”

The iPhone SDK has been downloaded more than 100,000 times since Apple showed Spore running it for the first time earlier this month, and several high profile games names have said they intend to publish on the device, including id, PopCap and Namco.