Carmen Gonzalez

PlayHaven, an online universe of fan communities for iPhone games, and Mobclix, the industry's largest targeted mobile ad exchange, released data today predicting that iPhone game usage is likely to set records in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day, soaring to levels 28 times greater than the same weekly period last year.

"The week between Christmas and New Years has become the great 'Game Rush' for iPhone games - essentially what Black Friday is to brick and mortar retailers," said Raymond Lau, co-founder and CEO of PlayHaven. "This soaring increase in iPhone game downloads is even more spectacular when you consider the slow holiday sales this year for console game titles."

From January through November, sales of console titles were down 12 percent from the same time frame last year, according to retail analysts.

Lau said consumers are looking to their iPhones increasingly for entertainment. With more than 15,000 game titles available to-date in the App Store, the popularity of Apple's mobile device continues to soar even in the face of renewed competition from Android.

PlayHaven also predicted that in the coming year, discovery of games and applications is increasingly going to originate outside the App Store. By the end of 2010, Lau said up to 25 percent of iPhone app purchases may originate at some location other than iTunes or the App Store as companies like PlayHaven seek to capitalize on the increasing complexity of app discovery in a universe of more than 125,000 titles.

"Consumers are looking to personal devices as a key source of entertainment and the game app market is seeing a surge," said Sunil Verma, co-founder of Mobclix. "With the data from last year and information on this year's trends, it's clear that a lot of time and money will be spent on iPhone games this week. Developers are in a good position to monetize their games through smart marketing and ad decisions."

The Mobclix PlayHaven "Game Rush" forecast is based on analysis from across the Mobclix mobile ad exchange. Mobclix used historical app download data and calculated a projection based on the increased number of Apple mobile devices sold during the year.