IMO they're doing it as a means of keeping their options open against the day when Microsoft decides not to allow a third-party app store on Windows and cuts off their air supply.
That's definitely why they're doing it, and it's a good idea for a business to hedge it's bets this way. (Zynga would be sunk if Facebook ever blocked them, being dependent on one platform is a huge risk.)
But the likelihood that Microsoft would ever fully disallow third party install on Windows is nonexistent.
> But the likelihood that Microsoft would ever fully disallow third party install on Windows is nonexistent.
Unless you can predict the future for as long as Microsoft exists, you can't say that.
I'm pretty sure that before the iPhone there were people saying Nokia was too big to fail, same for IBM before Windows probably.
I'm still on the fence about car companies. I sure have heard people very convincingly say that oil is a risk-free investment, that there never will be a time when oil isn't needed anymore. I have good reasons to disagree with that today.
Then again, Nokia still exists today, so I suppose a pedant could get technical about oil still filling a much diminished market in the future.
But the likelihood that Microsoft would ever fully disallow third party install on Windows is nonexistent.