by News Editor
L. Sutherland
L. Sutherland
The pocket power of the iPhone isn't something to be sniffed at, and Tokyo-based start up Genkii has a plan to harness the huge capacity for connectivity offered by the desirable device. The company has created a new iPhone application, dubbed Sparkle, which aims to become the definitive virtual world for the iPhone. It looks like Genkii has started on the right foot. According to respected industry news site TechCrunch, the company is developing the product from scratch, as an MMO for the iPhone/iPod Touch family exclusively.
Genkii has already released a text communication app called Sparkle IM, a programme that allows users to connect to Second Life and Open Sim grids. This means that users will be able to enjoy IMs and chats through their accounts from their iPhones wherever they are. However, the biggest appeal of Sparkle will most likely be the 3D incarnation.
Once Sparkle 3D is ready to shine, it aims to provide the user with a fully fledged world in 3D and a virtual world all of its very own. The app will encompass such staples as its own economy, social networking functions, games, audio support and, the perennial favourite of users everywhere, customizable personal spaces and avatars, and so on.
If Genkii can provide iPhone users with the addictive thrill of an alternate world like that so successfully achieved by Second Life, the company could find its fortunes made. According to TechCrunch, there are an estimated 40 million iPhone and iPod touch users in the wild - a market just waiting to be tapped into by virtual world companies.
What's more, Sparkle's CEO, Ken Brady has intimated that the company is investigating ways that Sparkle can also be integrated into other platforms, for example the PlayStation Home, meaning that should the app take off it will not be strictly limited to Apple fans. And with plans to launch in a variety of different languages from the get go, the Tokyo-based start up seems on the right track to take on the real world of global mobile competition to bring its virtual world to the masses.
