Social games and MMOs leading the charge, but iPhone has potential.
A new report claims that US consumers will spend more than $1 billion on virtual goods this year, rising to $1.6 billion in 2010.
The Inside Virtual Goods report is being released by Inside Network and the Virtual Goods Summit, and focuses mainly on virtual items being sold on social networks like Facebook, as well as through MMO games like Eve Online.
"I don’t know anyone who expected it to grow this fast," co-author Justin Smith tells VentureBeat.
"The Facebook platform went from zero to hundreds of millions of dollars in two and a half years. It reflects a broader shift in society where people are spending more time on casual games."
Mobile doesn't loom large in the report, but it does highlight iPhone as an emerging platform for virtual goods sales.
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Apple's launch of in-app payments earlier this summer is being tested by several companies, including games firms like Tapulous, EA Mobile and I-play.
However, although the companies making most money from virtual items online - Playfish, Zynga and Playdom - are all active on iPhone, they have yet to throw their weight behind Apple's micropayments.
