Maybe Steam-for-Linux is really a stalking horse for Steam-for-Android, and Steam-for-Android has a lot more leverage if you don't have to get your apps somewhere else but can just get them through the same channel you're already getting your games through.
For me the killer feature of Steam for Android would be if they offered Android versions of games I already own the same way I can play all games with Mac builds on Mac.
Although the list of games that exist both on Android and Windows is small I can think of enough games on Steam (GTA3, Max Payne, World of Goo, Osmos, Anomaly, Popcap games, etc.) to make it an attractive feature.
This is the biggest issue I have with the playstore. Outside of the top 100, which are really mostly rather crap apps in my opinion, there seems to be no logical categorization. It's a huge pain to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Or, maybe Steam itself will be the stalking horse for Steam for Linux. It makes absolute sense to me that Steam will push Linux hard, planting a flag on the OS in the eyes of gamers, while simultaneously trying to turn this spike in adoption into good will with the Linux community.
They may be concerned about fragmenting their ecosystem since virtually no apps will be "cross-platform" between Android and the desktop without a significant rewrite.
Another option for Valve to explore would be to check the current state of the DX games in Wine and work with interested publishers on improved compatibility. Then throw money and developers at Wine. When they're happy, wrap it up in the Steam client somehow so its seamless for the user and problem solved. The only real issue would be the spector that MS might figure out some way to sue if it gets too popular.
Isn't WINE just an implementation of Win32 APIs? From that respect, wouldn't the recent Google-Oracle case preclude that from being an avenue for lawsuit?
