Smartphone addiction or normal usage?

In the last day, have you checked your phone for missed calls or messages more than a few times? Do you spend more time than you should playing games or surfing the web through your phone? The real question is: is your smartphone too addictive? Well the answer to that might be yes, especially if you had the Flappy Bird game on your phone that is no longer available. That’s what the creator of the game believes anyway.

What is Flappy Bird?

If you haven’t heard of Flappy Bird yet, you are in luck, sort of. At least you won’t have to deal with the addictive tendencies associated with it. Unfortunately, it is not available to anyone anymore. The game was created by Vietnamese creator Nguyen Ha Dong in an effort to create something people could enjoy for a few minutes at a time. Maybe you were waiting in line or trying to get in a few minutes of the game while at the airport. The basic idea of the game is to get a bird through obstacles. It is so simple, yet challenging, that people just love it.

So what’s the problem?

The problem isn’t that it’s a fun game and that it was doing well. The problem was that the game was doing so well that Nguyen wasn’t able to take a break. It brought in a ton of money, but he didn’t feel it was worth it. The point wasn’t to create crazy addicts of the game. The point was to give people a game they could play when they had an extra minute here and there. Now, the game is no longer available in the app stores, so those who don’t already have it cannot purchase it anymore. Goodbye Flappy Bird.

Selling online

There were phones found online with a price of over $100,000 just because they had this game downloaded onto them. Of course, only the iPhones could go for such a high price, and there were other listed for much less than that. If you really feel like you want to get Flappy Bird on your phone, your only option is to buy it pre-loaded on a phone online.

What this means for you

Any company recognizes that this kind of addiction may actually be good for business. If people are getting so addicted to simple smartphone games that they are willing to pay excessive amounts for phones with the game online, then that means you have a higher chance of reaching your customers through mobile. The marketing side of your company needs to look into how to better bring in more business with a smartphone. You can easily text your customers and know they will get the message within a matter of minutes. Mobile-friendly social media and advertisements will make all the difference, especially if you can get in on advertisements for a popular game. It’s time to make the switch to mobile advertising.

Sources: Wall Street Journal