I never owned an iDevice so I'm not sure the analogy stands but I believe the Ubuntu Software Center does something similar to what you're describing. You get the same 'app store' whatever version of Ubuntu you are running but when you install an 'app' it silently downloads the package targeted at your Ubuntu version.
I thought all Android apps ran in a Dalvik VM. What do you mean by "could be used for different ARM architectures"? Isn't Java bytecode independent of the underlying architecture?
Yeah, but Ubuntu is professional, well designed, and well made - by people who truly care about their users. You can't hold Apple up to the same high standards... they're just not in the same league.
