The N-Gage is a mobile telephone and handheld game system based on the Nokia Series 60 platform. It started selling on October 7, 2003. It attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including cellphone functionality. This was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons, designed for a phone, were not well-suited for gaming and when used as a phone the original N-Gage was described as resembling a "taco".

In 2005, Nokia announced that it would move its N-Gage games capabilities onto a series of smartphones. These devices have been available since early 2007, and a pre-release version of the N-Gage application allowing users to purchase and download games was made available for download from the official N-Gage website on February 4 2008. The full version of the N-Gage service was released to the public on April 3, 2008.

History

In the late 1990s, gamers increasingly carried both mobile phones and handheld game consoles. Nokia spotted an opportunity to combine these devices into one unit. They developed the N-Gage, a device that integrated these two devices. Instead of using cables, multiplayer gaming was accomplished with Bluetooth or the Internet (via the N-Gage Arena service). The N-Gage also included MP3 and Real Audio/Video playback and PDA-like features into the system.

With a launch price of US $299, the N-Gage was not as commercially popular as Nokia estimated. In its first weeks of availability in the United States, it was outsold by the Game Boy Advance 100 to 1."The N-Gage Doesn't" Game Now, January 2004. Retrieved May 5, 2007. Within 17 days of the deck's release, popular retailers GameStop and Electronics Boutique began offering $100 rebates on the deck's price.Smith, David. "US Retailers Cut N-Gage Price". 1UP, October 2003. Retrieved May 5, 2007.

The poor sales performance can be attributed to the poor selection of games compared to its competitors and its cost at launch; it was more than twice as expensive as a Game Boy Advance SP on release day. Poor sales were also amplified by game media being standard MMC memory cards and as with most consoles piracy did become an issue.

Besides its gaming capabilities, the N-Gage was a Series 60 smartphone, running Symbian OS 6.1, with features similar to those of the Nokia 3650 (it does not have an integrated camera, however). It was able to run all Series 60 software (other than those that require a camera), and Java MIDP applications as well. Its main CPU was an ARM Integrated (ARMI) compatible chip (ARM4T architecture) running at 104 MHz, the same as the Nokia 7650 and 3650 phones.