Apple has displayed no ambition in the games market since being burnt by their ill-fated Bandai collaboration called Pippin, a multimedia game machine using Macintosh technology released to worldwide derision in 1996.
Games support for the Macintosh format also remains very slim, eve isk mostly confined to tardy ports of a select few successful Windows games.
But a report recently released by the PC Gaming Alliance exploring trends in the computer gaming market suggests Macintosh is rapidly emerging as a platform for games, and the Mac's market share will grow as the iPhone becomes increasingly successful.
"These days there is more in common between the Apple Macintosh and PC as game platforms than there is separating them", the report notes.
"Every Mac since 2006 has been a serious game platform from a hardware standpoint", the report continues, with owners able to use Boot Camp to access Windows titles as well as playing native Macintosh software.
The PC Gaming Alliance note that massively multiplayer online titles have found a particularly welcome home on the Mac, including the likes of World of Warcraft, Eve Online, Everquest, eve isk Lineage and soon City of Heroes.
The alliance says it is also becoming easier for developers to port PC games to the Mac thanks to utilities like Cider, and casual games on the Mac are starting to enjoy significant sales.
But the most significant trend in relation to gaming on Apple platforms is certainly iPhone.
Already the App Store for iPhone and iPod Touch is filled with over 6000 games. Nearly a quarter of all applications on the store are games.
ComScore reports that over 30 per cent of iPhone users have downloaded at least one iPhone game, compared to less than four per cent of mobile phone users. Further, Electronic Arts says that 70 per cent of Apple's Top Paid Apps list were games.
"In our view, the more successful the iPhone becomes as a game platform, publishers will watch Apple computer sales carefully to be ready to channel iPhone complementary products to the Mac platform," eve isk says the PC Gaming Alliance.
