Report: Mobile game income surpasses Nintendo/Sony handhelds

The growth of the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad as gaming devices has done plenty to worry executives at Nintendo and Sony for a while now, but new numbers from Flurry Research may cause even more agita.

The mobile analytics firm says revenues from the iOS and Android gaming markets are now higher than that generated from traditional portable systems from the two gaming giants. And in a $3.3 billion market, that’s noteworthy.

The company estimates the two mobile platforms will make up 58 percent of all U.S. portable game revenue this year – a 24 percent jump from last year and up from just 19 percent in 2009.

Nintendo's DS line has taken 36 percent of portable software revenues in the U.S. so far in 2011, with Sony's PSP earning 6 percent. The decline for Nintendo is a dramatic one, as the company controlled 70 percent of the market two years ago.

"Within the portable category, an abundance of digitally distributed free and $0.99 games, available on hardware that is both comparably priced and more powerful than traditional portable game devices, better appeals to many consumers," said Flurry's Peter Farago in a blog post. "As a result, the days of paying $25, or more, for a cartridge at a retail store may soon end."