Coming to a screen near you

Of the 400,000 apps available on Apple's iTunes app store, games generate close to 70 percent of the annual revenue. A similar situation exists for rival stores that provide apps for operating platforms such as Android.

The game app industry has gone mainstream in China during the past 12 months; revenue grew by 140 percent year-on-year, accounting for one-eighth of the total 5.2 billion yuan revenue generated by the market, according to iResearch, an Internet monitoring and survey company.

Statistics provided by iResearch suggest that users spend an average of 45 minutes a day playing games on their devices, but only 15 minutes making calls, so it seems that smartphones are as much games platforms as communication devices.

But local developers said their passion for creating a successful app is as important a factor in their decision to enter the industry as the potentially large revenues on offer.

Ready? Steady? Go!

Whenever he's waiting for a bus or subway train, Zhang Junming takes out his smartphone and spends a few minutes playing a game. Usually, he favors games that are available as free downloads.

As the train or bus approaches his stop, Zhang finishes playing the game and uploads his score to see how he ranks among other players. Although his ranking improves almost every time he plays, Zhang seems indifferent to the result. He will play again when he gets another few minutes of free time.

The app developer, in his twenties, was once a very good game player and dreamed of creating his own apps. Now though, he works as programmer for a small, independent game app developer.

While the PC and Web game markets are occupied by the industry behemoths, apps stores have mostly become a platform for small- and medium-sized developers, although individual competitors are also flooding into the field.