For the first part in a two-part feature for Gamasutra sister mobile game news site GamesOnDeck, we talk to Trip Hawkins, CEO of Digital Chocolate about his company, his thoughts on the mobile and console games industries, and the future of digital distribution. In this excerpt, Hawkins explains why consumers, still burdened by some of the mobile industry's 'low fidelity' and cumbersome interfaces and hardware, are still doing more than simply making calls, including playing games, as a part of their new 'mobile lifestyle': "I think when these phones first appeared in Japan that a lot of people made the mistake of thinking "Ohh it's just a Japanese thing, and they're stuck in all these subway cars all the time and they need something to do." The reality is that there are some very fundamental human needs being served, and there are certain things being adopted everywhere around the globe. It really comes back to the social benefit of the platform. I think there's a lot more excitement for the industry as we go from thinking that we're just entertaining people that are trying to kill time, and we start thinking of the gameplay experience having social value. You know the public just has much, much more demand for that, and you see this being mirrored on the internet. Things like MySpace and Facebook and all the social community activity. Obviously World of Warcraft is reaching an unprecedented audience size for an MMO. Casual web games on the internet are becoming a bigger deal with a bit more of a social dimension there. So between the internet and mobile you can tell were in the era of social computing. Mobile has a lot going for it as a platform because everybody has one. It's far more prevalent than PCs or consoles. Everybody always has it with them. So if you're looking for social contact it's always available to you." You can now read the full GamesOnDeck feature on the subject, with more from Hawkins on the social aspects of Digital Chocolate's forthcoming MLSN Sports Picks, and breaking the mobile industry into 'viral discovery and free trial' programs to better engage potential players (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from external websites).