Glu Mobile IPO Could Stick It to EA

But those barriers are destined to be toppled, and companies are jostling for position under a rising new sun that promises to be bright indeed. And Glu is an early entrant in the race to become to mobile phones what Electronic Arts was to PCs and consoles.

So Glu is playing the right game. The question then is, is Glu the best player? It's a question that Glu investors will need to consider, and one that has yet to be answered definitively.

Games for mobile devices differ from consoles and PC games in significant ways. They cost less to develop and distribute; they tend to have longer life cycles. They aren't wedded to a particular device like Microsoft's Xbox or Nintendo's (NYDOY Quote) Wii, and they don't necessarily become useless when a new generation of devices is rolled out.

Then there's the freedom to be played anywhere -- on subways, in airports, even in interminable business meetings while you pretend to be checking email. However, as Glu notes in its prospectus: "Once developed, mobile games may need to be customized, or ported, to more than 1,000 different handset models."

The Obstacle Course

The biggest obstacle to Glu's becoming the Electronic Arts of mobile devices is none other than ... Electronic Arts. The gaming giant bought Jamdat, the largest maker of mobile games, in December 2005. That puts Glu in third place, behind EA Mobile and Gameloft, owned by France-based Ubisoft.