PocketGamer.biz unveils the top 50 iPhone developers of 2009

The iPhone development scene may still be in its infancy at less than 18 months young, yet its gaming output (over 30,000 gaming titles and growing fast) has already surpassed its console cousins in terms of sheer quantity.

Naturally with these sort of volumes and pricing tending toward 99c, the quality scales may not be tipped quite so easily.

However, in amongst the massed ranks of novelties, me toos and general dross, there are a host of developers creating top notch games that stand out from the crowd and earn critical praise as well as commercial success.

It's in honour of those developers that the team behind PocketGamer.Biz and PocketGamer websites spent much of their Xmas break huddled in the company cabin deep in contemplation, conversation and heated argument to assemble our inaugural iPhone Developer 50.

So, read on for the full list in reverse order and click on the links for the full explanation about the companies involved.

50. Red Rocket Games
49. Connect2Media
48. MrFungFung
47. Strange Flavour
46. Appy Entertainment
45. Candy Cane
44. John E Hartzog
43. IUGO
42. MoreGames Entertainment
41. Bryan Mitchell

40. Crescent Moon Games
39. Imangi Studios
38. Fishlabs
37. InMotion Software
36. Revo Solutions
35. Graveck
34. FDG Entertainment
33. Critical Thought Games
32. Semi Secret Software
31. Godzilab

30. Rough Cookie
29. SGN
28. Mobigame
27. Two Tribes
26. RedLynx
25. Taito
24. Meridian
23. 2XL Games
22. True Axis
21. Secret Exit

PG.biz iPhone Top 50, numbers 20-11

20. Digital Chocolate Helsinki
19. Gamevil
18. Hand Circus
17. Tiger Style
16. Illusion Labs
15. Chillingo
14. ngmoco
13. Com2uS
12. Backflip Studios
11. Freeverse

10. Glu Mobile
9. Lima Sky
8. id Software
7. Tapulous
6. EA Mobile
5. PopCap Games
4. Ideaworks Game Studio
3. Bolt Creative
2. Gameloft
1. Firemint

Suffice to say, like all lists, this one is liable to stir some comment, be it celebration or gnashing of teeth so we welcome you to offer your viewpoints in the comments below.

Meanwhile, we'd like to simply offer our congratulations to Firemint and all of the other developers included above who all deserve their new years honours for services to iPhone and pocket gaming.