Yesterday, Steve Jobs died. I’m not an Apple fan, nor do I own a single one of their products (although I have in the past, including iThings). Really, they’re just not my cup of tea. But looking back over the last few years, it’s hard to see an indie gaming world devoid of Apple and, by extension, the man who brought the iPhone to life: Steve Jobs (RIP).

But this isn’t really an article about Steve Jobs’ death. It just serves as an unfortunate timely coincidence. Really I merely want to discuss the implications Apple has had on game development.

Looking back through the years, it’s been challenging to quantify the amount of games that have been released each and every year, but it’s hard to deny the shear amount of games being released on all matters of platforms in recent years isn’t absolutely dwarfing the amount of games coming out pre-2005. And at the heart of all that game development? The iPhone (and by extension iPad and iPod Touch).

But what do you think? Obviously there are many roles here. Xbox Live, PSN, Android, Facebook, etc. all contributing to this huge market growth. Apple did seem to kick things off with the app store (at least in quantity), but then Xbox Live Arcade was technically first the scene and PC development has been around for, well, ever.

So did Apple start the next great renaissance (so to say) for game development? Or was it a convergence of events? Let’s gets some awesome discussion going as a sort of tribute to the man who, if nothing else, created a device for some amazing games to be on.

[Discussionware is a weekly feature aimed at promoting discussion with thought provoking topics. Each week we’ll be taking a look at a topic that influences indie gamers or developers and we’ll leave it open for discussion by our wonderful readers.]