“A long-running battle between Apple Inc and Google Inc. for mobile dominance is spreading to the most lucrative genre of apps: videogames,” Ian Sherr and Daisuke Wakabayashi report for The Wall Street Journal.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s goal is not dominance. Apple’s goal is to make great products that delight customers. If dominance comes along with it, so be it, but – unoike other compnaies – it is not the goal.
“The two Silicon Valley giants have been wooing game developers to ensure that top-tier game titles arrive first on devices powered by their respective operating systems, people familiar with the situation said,” Sherr and Wakabayashi report. “In exchange, Apple and Google are offering to provide a promotional boost for these games by giving them premium placement on their app stores’ home pages and features lists, these people said.”
“Last August, for the launch of ‘Plants Vs. Zombies 2,’ a highly anticipated sequel to a popular zombie-survival strategy game, publisher Electronic Arts Inc. struck a deal with Apple, which promoted the game prominently in its App Store, according to people familiar with the matter,” Sherr and Wakabayashi report. “In exchange, one of these people said, EA agreed to give Apple about a two-month window of exclusivity for the title, which wasn’t released on Google’s Android software until October.”
“ZeptoLab’s sequel to its popular puzzle game ‘Cut the Rope,’ introduced in December, reflected a similar pattern,” Sherr and Wakabayashi report. “The company and Apple agreed to about a three-month window of exclusivity for Apple’s App Store, in exchange for the store prominently promoting the game, one person familiar with the matter said. ZeptoLab launched an Android version in late March.”
MacDailyNews Take: Sounds like Apple’s winning this so-called “battle.”
Sherr and Wakabayashi report, “Amazon.com Inc., too, has gotten into the act. The online retailer has sought exclusivity deals with game developers as a way to boost the appeal of its Kindle family of Android devices.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: 10:53am EDT: After two coffees, added a headline.
Now if only they would put time and effort into improving productivity and not just entertainment, we’d be in good shape. I still can’t save a file that I’m working on to my desktop or save a collection of files for the same project in one folder. iPad can be used as a production device but the OS works against you when trying to get things done.
You are too used to the way Microsoft Windows works.
Someone is hung over. Two MDN takes and no headline?
LOL, no kidding…
HEADLINE:
MDN too hung over from Easter blowout to write headline about Google vs. Apple