Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), two Silicon Valley giants, have been locked in conflict to acquire a dominant position in mobile. Now, to prove their supremacy, both are positioning for an attempt to lure the game developers to make sure that whenever they come up with a new game or new version of an old popular game, it will be made available first on their respective operating system, says a report the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter.
Apple iOS preferred choice for new apps
The grease the wheels in the search for new titles Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) promised to promote the games as much as possible by placing them well on their feature lists and app stores’ home pages.
There has been a trend of launching the game exclusively on one OS while launching it later on the other by the game developers. For example, last August a deal was struck between Apple and game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. for the launch of the sequel to a popular strategy game Plants Vs. Zombies 2. As per the deal, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was supposed to prominently promote the game in the App Store while EA gave the rights to the iPhone maker to use the title exclusively for about two months. The game was not released on Google’s Android software until October,
Emily Greer, head of Kongregate, a gaming service owned by retailer GameStop Corp., who prefers the competition for the best content, says, “When people love a game, and it’s not available on an alternate platform, they’ll change platforms,” and added “The level of attachment a person has to a game can exceed almost anything.”
Android making efforts to catch up
Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) introduced the iPhone in 2007 and soon acquired the leading position in the market. These days, however, the company is facing tough competition from the increasing sales and demand of the Android-based smartphones. Almost one billion smartphones were shipped across the world in 2013 and 80% of those ran on the Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG)-developed Android operating system, as shown by research firm IDC. On the other hand, Apple’s market share has fallen to 15%.
Most of the new apps were first attracted to Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL). The prominent reason for this was that the iOS software enabled easy developing of games and fewer devices ran on it. In contrast to this, Android has many variants, and apps runs on a large number of smartphones and other devices. In recent years, Android has levelled the playing field between the two camps. Not only has it claimed a huge market share, the software writing tools are easier to use.
