I wouldn't rule out the bait possibility.
They bait in the casualz and get them hooked on Nintendo consoles.

double post

Trying to be greedy and going to rune a good thing with Nintendo. At least with them they made good money from royalties.

Please explain how releasing a free app is greedy.

There is already a thread about this.

The explanation is very simple: Ninty knows 3DS and Wii U will phail, so it's preparing itself to become a third party.

I could only imagine the number of copies a real Pokemon game would sell on iOS/Android....Certainly would be the highest selling smartphone game ever.

Ah, my sig? I will add some VC/WW/3DS charts in the next month or so. I've been very busy with work, so I can't always post numbers. Glad you liked the blog though!

And its not on the 3DS!? WTF?!

If I recall correctly GameFreak is not a Nintendo owned studio. Nintendo to my knowledge owns the publishing rights to Pokemon. However GameFreak has alot of control over the franchise to this day. So if GameFreak decided to make an App I don't think Nintendo would stop them , they wouldn't support the move officially and seeing as the software is free it doesn't appear Nintendo is really involved.

In the end this isn't a first for Nintendo. Nintendo released several mini-games on PC years ago as well as released colouring software and such for children. Its also not a new move for Nintendo if they are officially in support of it, remember Mario Typing all those years ago. Nintendo doesn't create mainstream software for competitors devices but they have in the past supported PC.

Nintendo and GameFreak may see this as an oppertunity to market their games directly to I-Phone users and Android users. Using this game like an advertisement for Pokemon. Don't take this as a major move its just a publicity stunt and nothing Nintendo hasn't done before!