Life After Apple: AT&T Eyes Gaming Platform for Android
Apple last Thursday made official its desire to see other people, ending a long-standing exclusivity agreement with AT&T to sell the iPhone 4, which is now also available through Verizon. It's an open relationship of sorts, one that Apple wanted and AT&T didn't. Call it a rebound if you will, but according to a report in The Wall Street Journal, AT&T will now look to invest more heavily in Google's Android platform, starting with a new social gaming platform for Android phones.
It's more of a ménage à trois involving AT&T, Android, and the OpenFeint game network. OpenFeint brings a social networking appeal to gaming by allowing developers to add things like leaderboards, the ability to add friends, and live chat to gaming. OpenFeint, which started off as an iOS-only platform but later added Android in 2010, claims a mobile gaming network with over 62 million gamers and 17,000 developers.
"The net-net here is that we want developers to build more connected games for our customers," an AT&T spokeswoman said.
It should be noted that OpenFeint competes against Apple's Game Center, another social gaming platform. Game Center launched last September and is available on the iPod touch and iPhone.
It's more of a ménage à trois involving AT&T, Android, and the OpenFeint game network. OpenFeint brings a social networking appeal to gaming by allowing developers to add things like leaderboards, the ability to add friends, and live chat to gaming. OpenFeint, which started off as an iOS-only platform but later added Android in 2010, claims a mobile gaming network with over 62 million gamers and 17,000 developers.
"The net-net here is that we want developers to build more connected games for our customers," an AT&T spokeswoman said.
It should be noted that OpenFeint competes against Apple's Game Center, another social gaming platform. Game Center launched last September and is available on the iPod touch and iPhone.
