iPhone "not a viable gaming platform"

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The SDK, released on March 6, gives programmers access to the inner workings of Apple's phone, allowing them to take advantage of all the device has to offer.

Though a number of big-name publishers have signed up for the device, analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan believes the high price of the device will limit its reach into the hard-core gaming segment. keep it from spawning a major gaming following.

"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," Pachter wrote to clients.

Publishers, including Electronic Arts and Sega have promised to bring some impressive-looking titles to the iPhone in the form of Spore and Super Monkey Ball, respectively.

But while developers have been singing the praises of the iPhone as a blank canvas for game design, but Pachter doesn't see the device as a commercially viable platform for developers.

He said that the "impressive" device has "virtually unlimited potential," but added, "I don't see it as a viable gaming platform, due to the cost of owning one."

"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."

Apple sold $8.3 billion in iPods last year, an 8 percent increase over the year before.

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