Or consider this...

Birds on the iPhone was $ .99 I believe.

For the longest time it showcased the capabilities of the IPhone. Particularly for those who didn't know what to do with their shiny new $200 + 2 years before the mast as indentured servants of AT&T or whoever their carrier was, toy...
Many of them sat in the corner playing the dang game and nothing much more until iFart or the next way-cool app was available for $ .99.

iPhone users learned to check the iStore early and often. Rovio learned where the gold was but had to give away the lions share of it to the Prince of Apple Land.

A demo was ported to the N900 for freakin' FREE that showcased what Rovio could do with other platforms. Particularly ones that ran quicker and had better displays. N900 users broke into two camps. The "gimme. gimme, gimme some more for nothing" group and the "lets see how this is done" group. Some N900 users learned from it. Others became just as obsessed with "levels" as the the iPhone users did. Rovio learned that the real gold was in that obsession, and the eyeball hang time that resulted from it...

Google learned what that "hang time" was worth and showed Rovio how to capitalize upon it. I don't think that this empirical data would have been available to them from Apple.

Rovio now offers the app for free and Android users learn that they now have unexplained urges for cheeseburgers, Mountain Dew, Spike TV, and what ever else is advertised while they play the dang thing.

The N900 may have been a very useful Capitalist Tool in all this. A catalyst, if you will.