Things have changed recently at Astraware and so we decided to nab some of Howard Tomlinson’s precious time to get his thoughts on the smartphone market, mobile life in general and of course Astraware.

1/ How does it feel to have Astraware back as a standalone company again?

Great to be back – but that has pluses and minuses. We can make changes and try out new things a lot faster, but I’m very conscious that we don’t have a lot of margin for error. It’s very much like being a startup again.

2/ Did you enjoy your time with Handmark and was it a major change to the way you had to work?

It has been brilliant – they’re a fantastic team, and I have a whole load of new friends there. David and I have learnt a great deal about larger business (i.e. not just making it all up as we go along!) which is really good for us. I’m pretty sure it was a 2-way process too – I’m always asking awkward questions on strategy and direction, the end result of which has been pretty healthy all round.

3/ Is one mobile platform likely to dominate your new releases in the future or are you looking to cover them all?

For the past couple of years we’ve been hitting one platform at a time, bringing our own games across to each new platform. Going forward from here I think we’ll be trying to cover them all a lot more equally.

No surprise that we’ll be expanding to cover iPad too, but all the other platforms have interesting things going on too.

4/ What was your most successful game in the past year?

There’ve been a few interesting spikes – where a game is particularly successful in just one area (i.e. xxxxx in xxxx) – it’s nice to get that kind of data from the Apple App Store.  Phaze and Astraware Solitaire have both been successful in the last year, so that’s one we’ve developed internally and one we’ve published for Pazzazz.

5/ What smartphone are you using at the moment and why?

I’m using an iPhone right now – simply because I love the apps and the usability of it. I’m expecting to upgrade to a 3GS, or maybe whatever Apple have coming later.

6/ Any hints on what we can expect next from Astraware?

As well as iPad we’re investigating some of the other larger platforms too, netbooks and the new Meego OS. We’ve had requests for PC and Mac versions of some of our games, so that’s in consideration too!

We’ve got more games in the pipeline, something puzzley (and squishy!) coming out soon, something distinctly piratical, and more for later in the year. 3D is finally making its impact in our technology too, and we’ll be using that within games where it makes sense to add to the visual effect.

7/ Anything you would like to add?

“Embrace Change!” – wise words once given to me, and it appeals to the optimist in me. There’s a lot of change going on right now, Apple really kicked the ants nest over and that’s fired up a lot of effort and opportunity for all companies, developers and hardware manufacturers both, as we all make progress in new directions. I’m still excited to be part of this industry!

One question for you lot- do you prefer Howard with or without the beard?