Valve has at long last released a Steam app mobile phones which brings with it much of Steam’s core functionality.

The app can be downloaded now for iOS and Android devices, but not everyone can make use of it just yet. With the app still in beta, Valve will be allowing gamers in as time goes on. In order to enroll for the beta, you’ll want to download the app, sign in with your Steam account, and then hope you’re selected.

Once you are allowed in (or you get in by virtue of the beta coming to a close), you’ll be able to do most of what you’d hope to with a Steam app: chat with friends, browse groups and profiles, check out screenshots and user-generated content, read Steam and gaming news, add games to your wishlist, and even buy games. The ability to make purchases is a particularly pleasant surprise; being able to buy games on the go means you never have to miss out on a Steam sale just because you’re away from the computer.

Based on my brief time spent playing around with the app on my iPhone 4S, it works every bit as well as you’d hope, and chatting in particular is quick and easy. Images can be somewhat slow to load and I see see no way to zoom in on screenshots, but the app is very responsive save for the occasional bit of slowdown that seems to resolve itself after a moment’s pause. There are some things that need work — the videos page is labeled “under construction” but does already allow you to view any that have been saved — like adding the ability to rearrange the items on your wishlist and trade items, but it’s still surprisingly feature-rich for a first release.

Valve talked about the possibility of Steam support on mobile platforms last year. “We do feel we’re late on mobile across many of Valve’s services,” Valve marketing VP Doug Lombardi said in May. “It is something we’re starting to look at now. People are starting to ask us for it. The more requests we receive, the more we feel the need to act on them.”

Fast forward to today. “The Steam app comes from many direct requests from our customers,” Valve president Gabe Newell said of the app’s release. “Seeing which of your friends are online and playing a game, sending quick messages, looking at screenshots for an upcoming game, or catching a sale – these are all features customers have requested. Mobile is changing way people interact, play games and consume media, and the Steam app is part of our commitment to meet customer demands and expand the service functionality of Steam to make it richer and more accessible for everyone.”

I’ve written before about how Electronic Arts’ Steam competitor, Origin, needs to differentiate itself from Steam. Mobile felt like a place for it to do it — Steam was limited to computers, and its community with it. Had EA gotten an Origin app like this on iOS and Android, that could have been at least one way for it to say, “Hey, look — we’re doing something they aren’t. If you want to talk to your gaming buddies, add them on Origin and you can talk to them from your phone.”

Instead Steam has beaten Origin to the punch once again. With Valve already making it clear it wants to make it easy to use Steam on your TV (a feature being prepared for launch), that’s another area where Origin can’t be first. Following the Wii U’s reveal last year, it was rumored that its open online platform would allow Origin to become the de facto online platform on the system. Given that any mobile offering is unlikely to top Steam’s (based on the lack of innovation we’ve seen from Origin on computers thus far), that could be one of the few ways left for EA to get a foothold against the competition.

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