N-Gage

The N-Gage is a mobile device combining features of a cellular phone and a handheld game system developed by Nokia, released on 7 October 2003. Officially nicknamed the game deck, the N-Gage's phone works on the GSM cellular network, and software-wise runs on the Series 60 platform on top of Symbian OS v6.1. N-Gage attempted to lure gamers away from the Game Boy Advance by including telephone functionality, including SMS texting, in an "all-in-one" device. Game software was packaged in a MultiMediaCard to be inserted into the N-Gage's slot. Nokia also ran an online service community, N-Gage Arena, which also supported multiplayer on some titles, using the phone's GPRS data connection. Ultimately over 50 games — which included titles by major third-party publishers — were released for the system in a three year period. The N-Gage was unsuccessful, partly because the buttons were not well-suited for gaming, while it was described as resembling a taco, which led to its mocking nickname "taco phone". Less than a year later, the QD model was introduced as a redesign of the original "Classic" N-Gage, fixing widely criticized issues and design problems. The revised model was unable to make an impact, and with only 3 million units sold in its two years, the N-Gage was a commercial failure and discontinued in November 2005, with Nokia moving its gaming capabilities onto selected Series 60 smartphones; this was announced as the N-Gage platform or "N-Gage 2.0" in 2007, carrying on the N-Gage name.