Mplayit, maker of the mobile app catalog that lives inside Facebook, will release a report later today that lists the top games in their collection. Tetris, The Sims 3, and Wheel of Fortune are among the winners. So are Tap Tap Revenge and Rock Band.

On Mplayit, users can rate, comment on, and recommend individual apps to their social network on Facebook and Twitter. They can browse friends’ app collections, and follow their interests.

The most interesting stat in the report is that while games account for only one in five of the 130,000 iPhone apps at Mplayit, they’re half the traffic. By contrast, games are only 30 percent of BlackBerry traffic and 20 percent of Android.

“iPhone developers are driving this phenomenon, putting out simply fantastic games that get people excited,” Mplayit founder and CEO Michael Powers said in a press release going out today. “But the developer catch-up is underway on Android.”

What about my BlackBerry? “Although BlackBerry is renowned for apps,” Powers said, “it continues to be underrated and overlooked as a games platform.”

Gaming interests vary across platforms, in ways you could probably guess. Music games like Rock Band are popular on the iPhone. Android users like games that use the phone’s GPS and camera, as well as augmented reality games like Barcode Beasties.

BlackBerry users prefer to read the Wall Street Journal on their phones. I’m kidding. Mplayit says they’re a less youth-culture oriented than iPhone and Android owners. They prefer TV and movie-related games like Deal or No Deal, and CSI Miami, and traditional card games like GT Blackjack and Aces Solitaire.

Mplayit has prepared an easy-to-read chart of the top games by phone type and game category.

[via VentureBeat]

We’ve covered a couple of Distimo reports in the past because they provide us with some valuable insights on Apple’s App Store and Google’s Android Market based on the startup’s in-depth analysis of publicly available data. Now the company has added RIM’s Blackberry App World store to the fray, which gives us even more data points to compare the rivals’ app pricing and whatnot.

In the latest report (September 2009), Distimo notes software programs for Blackberry devices are considerably more expensive than comparable apps for competing devices/platforms.

In fact, the average price for apps is more than three times higher than the one for similar apps in the App Store and Android Market, which is sort of unbelievable. There’s not a single category where the average price of an app is lower than its equivalent on the latter two application storefronts, and the more serious, business-related tools are definitely much more expensive. Just look at the difference in fees for apps in such categories as Finance, Productivity, Reference, News, Utility/Tools and particularly, Navigation/Travel in the chart below.

Research In Motion has traditionally targeted more of a business audience with its product line, but is that enough of an explanation why developers are pricing their mobile software programs so much higher than their equivalents on the competing platforms? Or are Blackberry users simply more willing (and able) to pay for apps? If so, than the higher pricing is merely a result of simple relation between offer and demand.

Either way, the difference in pricing is quite clear.

Update: as commenter Cameron correctly points out, the minimum listing price for apps that get distributed on App World is $2.99, which is part of the explanation of the huge pricing differences (I doubt it’s the only reason). Note that the store is open for free applications as well (if they generate revenue after download).

The chart also shows pricing of apps for the most popular listings in Apple’s App Store and Android Market are rather similar, with only Social Networking, Navigation & Travel and Productivity showing a bit of difference in asking pricing.

[via TechCrunch]

Starting this year and rolling into 2010, expect to see a slew of new smartphones, ranging from Google’s Android platform to Windows Mobile, capable of displaying Flash-powered content and video in their Web browsers. And what about the iPhone, you ask? Good question.Adobe announced early Monday that its Flash Player 10.1 for desktop PCs, netbooks, and smartphones (indeed, Adobe is calling its latest Flash Player the first to allow “uncompromised Web browsing” on mobile devices) is poised for launch, promising public betas of the Windows Mobile and WebOS (think Palm Pre) players by later this year. Android and Symbian (read: Nokia) support should come by early 2010, with BlackBerrys also on board, although no dates have been set.

PreCentral.net has video showing Flash support on the Palm Pre in action, and it looks mighty impressive. In the video, an Adobe rep shows off a Flash-powered game, then follows up by zooming in to a Flash music player on the Black Eyed Peas Web site; finally, we’re treated to a movie trailer on Yahoo! Movies.

The rep explains that the new Flash Player support such smartphone features as multi-touch gestures (such as “pinching” and “zooming”) and accelerometers (for turning the screen to landscape mode), and that the player will be able to keep multiple Flash instances running on multitasking phones (like the Pre) without ripping through the battery.

So yes … at last, no more surfing the Web on your smartphone only to see warnings that “You must have Adobe Flash Player installed to view this content.”

Pretty cool, but wait … when’s Flash Player 10.1 coming to the iPhone, again?

Well, Adobe didn’t mention the iPhone in its announcement today, and indeed, Adobe and Apple have had a rocky relationship when it comes to mobile Flash. Last year, Steve Jobs dismissed the existing desktop version of Flash as “too slow to be useful” on the iPhone, and said that Flash Lite—Adobe’s previous Flash app for smartphones—”is not capable of being used with the Web.”

Later in 2008, an Adobe staffer said that a version of the Flash Player was in the works, but that since the iPhone was a “closed platform,” Apple would have to give the OK before releasing the player on the App Store.

Since then … crickets.

So, will Apple bow to the pressure and finally get with the Flash program, especially given the speedier processor in the new iPhone 3GS? Time will tell.

[via Yahoo Tech]