iPhone devs say Apple beats Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft as a format-holder

"Support has been excellent - more than you might expect from other companies that work in the games sector. Everything they tell us is very useful," said James Brooksby, head of Kuju's Doublesix studio.

Two teams from Scotland concurred, adding that Apple has been key to work with independent developers from around the world, and is actively encourage them to develop new types of games content for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

"Apple has been fantastic to work with," added Cobra Mobile's CEO Mark Ettle. "We have worked with other manufacturers that that won't tell you anything. We've found that they don't just like games but also toys and entertainment software - especially as a means to differentiate the product from others. The message I get is that they are quite happy to push for the little small developer as long as the little small developer is pushing out the quality games."

Tag Games MD Paul Farley agreed: "Apple came to us rather than the other way around - that's a great position to be in. A lot of the decisions are made in the US, especially over hardware, but generally from a technical viewpoint, and in terms of supporting the development community in the UK, their work has been great."

Mobile games industry veteran John Chasey agreed, adding: "They are fragmented in terms of the editorial control for the AppStore from region to region - so you might find you don't get promoted as heavily in one regions as you do in others. But overall they have been excellent to work with."

Bad Management's John Cook also said that, in comparison to other format holders, Apple has so far been more open: "If you work in the console space you are used to a lot more control in almost every area. It's an amazing service, especially for things like the speed with which they turn around the release of content patches."

He added: "The decision to go topdown and use a business model that fits everybody was their best idea. They aren't trying to control the content or platform in anyway, and they think choice is good. That's a different view from every other format holder - and it's very healthy."