Promo play: EA's new Daily Deals widget beams promotions straight to Android home screens

EA's Daily Deals website has been a popular destination for mobile gamers and bargain seekers since it launched last year.

But now, with the launch of a Daily Deals widget for Android, the publisher is beaming its promotions directly to device home screens.

The widget delivers a scrolling selection of EA deals. A single tap on the desired deal brings users directly to the relevant page on Google Play.

Digging deeper

It's a canny move for a company that's known for its regular holiday sales events, in which it aggressively cuts the prices of its products in order to boost its chart rankings.

But as well as increasing visibility for EA's promotions, the Daily Deal widget also provides EA with information from the user's device.

Before placing the Daily Deals widget, users must give their consent to a pop-up agreement, which we have captured and reproduced below.

By tapping 'OK', the user gives EA permission to survey his or her device "for installed app IDs (both EA and others)" and to collect information such as device model, manufacturer, MAC address and OS.

All or nothing

Furthermore, the widget provides EA with usage analytics, too. Clicking 'cancel' causes the widget to disappear from the device home screen, effectively preventing its use.

As such, this data is not granted on an opt-in basis. It is, in fact, a condition of the widget's use.

All of that seems unlikely to dissuade many users from making use of the widget, which will, after all, show them the way to high-profile cut-price games over the Christmas period.

[source: TheAppSide]