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Comment by misnome | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure, even if this was true (which is being denied) what the problem is here. It's not as though paid platform exclusivity periods are anything new; they seem to be relatively common on consoles.

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It seems interesting precisely because this is common on consoles and hasn't previously been a thing for mobile, no?

Perhaps this indicates yet another point of maturation for these platforms.

or yet another point of possible lock in, which can lead to (other) monopolistic practices as time goes on.

Plants vs Zombies 1 for Android was an Amazon store exclusive for a while, and one of the Angry Birds games was a Samsung exclusive for a bit. There were also the Tegra exclusive games, which were mostly permanent exclusives (on Android only; they were usually ports of iOS games).

Apple's never done them before. It's not necessarily a problem, just 'news'.

That's not true: Apple has an exclusivity agreement with Misfit Wearables regarding their fitness tracker product (Misfit Shine)

Interesting. By 'never done them before' I'm referring to platform exclusivity agreements for games, though, as the original poster pointed out they are a 'normal thing' on consoles.

Are platform exclusivity agreements for iOS a common thing now for devices and applications? How many of those is Apple signing - dozens? hundreds?

I believe the exclusivity for Shine is just for retail. Apple made a deal to be their exclusive (physical?) retailer, just as they have done many times before, like the Phillips Hue and a few other cases and accessories.

As well as the Philips Hue color-changing LED bulbs.

I think the GP's issue is with the headline, which childishly states that Apple 'made' EA deny Android gamers PvZ. Let's talk like grown-ups: they made a deal.

It reveals the degree to which Apple feels threatened by Android. On the consoles it's taken for granted that both consoles have large numbers of paying customers and that the porting costs are negligible compared with the potential gain of developing and releasing on both. That doesn't seem to be the prevailing wisdom when it comes to Apple vs Android.

It's also interesting that not even a "truckload" of cash could stop them releasing in China.

Assuming that a second-hand report of an in-house "town hall" speech by an EA executive is true.

re: China sales figures, the idea that far more money can be extracted from Android users by going "free-to-play" seems to me more disturbing than encouraging. Gaming is going to seriously suck IMO if everything goes that way.

I would have paid for PvZ 2. I didn't buy anything when playing, it would have felt like cheating.

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