Mobile operators must look at social networking applications if they want to attract consumers to data services, Trip Hawkins, chief executive of Digital Chocolate, told delegates at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment tradeshow in San Francisco. 

Hawkins is the founder and former chief executive of EA Games, the world's largest games developer. His new venture develops games for mobile devices.

Voice services currently generate about $98bn a year for operators, while data services generate only $4bn, Hawkins pointed out. This gap exists because today's data services are too hard to use on mobile devices and lack strong appeal.

To break down this barrier, carriers need to start offering appealing applications tailored to mobile devices. Consumers will only bother to use the devices if they deliver "social value", and Hawkins is betting that multiplayer games could deliver such value.

Social games offer users an excuse to meet new people and engage in social contact with people they already know.

"The bottom line [of social games] to the consumer is not the content, but the ability to meet people," said Hawkins. "If you offer anything which says: 'You might hook up,' people will do it. Most people just need some plausible deniability [in the form of a fun game]."

The loyalty that comes with mobile social games also promises a windfall for operators and game developers, as they deliver monthly recurring revenues from subscription fees.

Digital Chocolate plans to launch its first social mobile game next month, entitled Mobile League Sports Network Sports Pick. The game allows players to make predictions about upcoming sports games.

It offers an overall ranking of players that make the most accurate predictions, and lets users create closed leagues with friends. The game will initially be available in the US to subscribers of Sprint, Verizon and Cingular.

The games developer is also working on AvaFlirting and AvaCars. In the first the player creates a person, or avatar, that will flirt with other players' characters in the game. In AvaCars players design their own automobile.