Of course, pricing is only part of an overall business strategy that is currently in flux. The discussion turned from monetization to promotion and marketability of iPhone games. Over the past year, we've seen very successful iPhone games that were marketed through well-organized campaigns and those who benefited only from word-of-mouth promotion and become surprising hits.

"Trism" is just such a viral hit. Without the backing of a well organized PR campaign or a major publisher's backing, Trism was a run-away hit since its release in 2007 -- originally for "jailbroken" iPhones.

Steve Demeter, CEO of Demiforce and developer of Trism, epitomizes the independent developer. With a small staff and very little investment, his game stood toe to toe with the big boys and won. Steve believes a games' success is in part tied to its simplicity. He was able to explain his game to customers in ten seconds, and he feels that's a good yardstick to judge the marketability of a game. The game got its start simply by telling friends, and from that Trism just took off.

Keith Lee and Neil Young believe that Trism's story is more an exception to the rule than a good guideline itself. Counting on your game going viral isn't the best business strategy.

"You have to use every avenue to promote your product," explained Keith Lee of Booyah. This includes conventional promotion methods -- a scheme Macworld's Peter Cohen has in the past.