otential: Users who engage in mobile gaming spend more money on wireless phone services in general; they can be high sources of revenue because of their propensity to remain online for extended periods. Also, advertisers and marketers find that mobile games provide a strategically important tool via the branding power of games and in-game ads. Mobile gaming also plays a pivotal role in generating revenues and numerous opportunities for game publish- ers, game developers, and associated professionals. Two factors have elevated mobile gaming to a new high. First, with mobile penetration in developed countries reaching saturation, service providers have had to consider and plan on new nonvoice services. Second, the emergence of down- loadable technologies and enabled handsets has offered a simple and billable plat- form for the delivery of games. The following sections discuss the various mobile game categories and platforms. Mobile Game Categories There are several techniques for playing games on a mobile phone, with each plat- form affecting the game-playing experience. There are three main categories of mobile games: Embedded games-This was the first approach, with the games being hard- coded into the mobile handset's system and shipped with the device. These games are likely to soon be considered outdated and obsolete and are often deleted by those who enjoy hacking handsets. SMS games-This category involves games that are played by sending text messages and generally are in the form of live contests and polls. The popu- larity of this approach is decreasing as the cost of playing the game increases each time an SMS is sent to the game server. Most importantly, these games are void of the exciting sensory aspects that multimedia intro- duces; they are not colorful, graphical, or highly interactive. Chapter 16 Emerging Wireless Applications Downloadable, or browser, games-Using a mobile device's built-in micro- browser (an Internet browser specifically designed for mobile devices), games can be played in both onl