While it is understandable that JetBrains is focusing on mobile platforms with Kotlin Native that does leave the Kotlin development platform in a very vulnerable position. Flutter could easily wipe out any gains made by Kotlin Native, and leave the Kotlin development platform in limbo. Apple might decide to block all Kotlin Native based apps in the App Store, which would also place the Kotlin development platform in limbo. With no fallback platforms for Kotlin Native the Kotlin development platform would be easily taken out. Having Linux platforms as a fallback for Kotlin Native means that the Kotlin development platform can continue to thrive, and grow no matter what happens on the mobile development side.

Recent WASM developments with Kotlin are promising, however WASM won’t be able to cover every type of software development that a Kotliner might use Kotlin for. Kotlin Native still has its place in Kotlin’s grand scheme where it would be a very good fit in the following areas:

• Serverless: This type of development requires good performance/platform integration over maintainability, which is where many cross platform environments like the JVM fall down.
• Edge IoT: Developing software for IoT devices like SBC’s (Single Board computers, eg Raspberry Pi) where performance, and platform integration are important. Kotlin Native’s Linux targets mean Kotlin Native programs can be developed for these devices.
• Command Line Tools: Kotlin Native really shines in this area due to very fast startup times, good platform integration (especially on Linux), and good performance (low RAM usage, small binary footprint etc).
• Gaming: Performance is critical in this area along with good platform integration. Kotlin Native can be used with some Game Engines (eg Godot).

Google is a very large company with many different divisions. Their Cloud division already provide official Kotlin support, and Google is starting to use Kotlin for backend development. Google’s Flutter division make decisions that don’t represent the company’s overall position. As far as i’m aware Google as a company don’t have any official positions on Kotlin. Each division in Google make their own decisions. Some divisions use Kotlin, and there might be more divisions using Kotlin in the future.