iPhone App Store To Debut With 160+ Games

Apple chairman and CEO Steve Jobs has revealed that of the 500 applications launching today on the new iPhone App Store, around a third of them will be video games, implying a figure of around 160 titles. Around 25 percent of all application will be free, with 90 percent of those that are not priced at $9.99 or less. As well as video games other application types will include “educational programs, mobile commerce and business productivity tools”. Speaking to The New York Times, Jobs indicated that Apple is not planning to make much money on the applications that are sold, instead using the service as a promotional tool for the iPhone itself. “We are not trying to be business partners,” said Jobs. Developers working on the format will receive a 70 percent cut of sales, a deal that Jobs points out is more generous than generally seen in the video games market. Apple will also provide distribution and marketing for new titles. Although Apple has traditionally not courted the video games market for any its hardware there has already been considerable interest within the industry in the iPhone, as evidenced by a recent Gamasutra opinion piece by Eidos Interactive president Keith Boesky and recent announcements from Stainless Games and ex-EA vet Neil Young’s Ngmoco.