Had Apple done this, I think you would see far less junk apps that are repurposed fifteen ways to Sunday. A lot of indies and students would probably think twice about releasing useless crap if submissions were limited and had value.
Most .99 apps that are not on the Top Charts make less than ~$75 a month.
That said, I really wish Apple had let apps run wild. As an alternative, developers could apply for iTunes Publishing and give up 30% + extensive review process. This would let Apple pick and choose without criticism, while "experimenters" could keep the clutter off the store but in a true free market economy where if it was truly that great — it would be recognized with or without Apple's support.
My guess is the Blackberry market will be nerfed by inconsistent hardware that will require extensive testing to ensure a consistent experience for all consumers. Have you developed a Blackberry web-app? Have fun, it's a nightmare... especially when almost all the user-agents report a unique browser specific to the phone. And that's when things were relatively simple.
It's in this regard (and others) that the iPhone wins, and while critics will find fault in a closed/commoditized hardware device — it's truly one of the primary reasons for so much interest in the iPhone (though possibly not recognized given the influx of 'new' software developers). If we had a thousand+ configurations to deal with like Windows Mobile or Blackberry, we would likely not be publishing out of our apartment unless we had funding of some sort.
Look, I'm all about experimenting and hobbyist developers and there's really not much stopping you now... build a few apps, install them on your phone and friends w/ ad hoc distros. But there's really no reason that many of these apps need to clutter a market place. It's like putting a .99 store in a respected city mall, which would never happen be/c there is a gatekeeper preventing crap from leasing space and degrading the shopping experience for customers who go to the mall with an expectation.
That said, I really wish Apple never let iFart on the store. Complete free markets tend to be overrated and resemble anarchy.
The AppStore doesn't scale for a true free market, it just doesn't and it's certainly not designed to fit the needs of software developers who are forced to use the store. There's no relationship management tools, there's no way to track marketing effectiveness, app reviews are not like comments where developers can easily respond to mis-informed consumers (or worse, developer cronies leaving wrong feedback), etc. I could go on, really.
The more popular it gets, the more broken and junk ridden it will become without some regulation.
Or rather, my device isn't supported. Curve 8330, bought it on Monday and was rather looking forward to this.
Perhaps it's the fault of my carrier... I have a hard time thinking they're restricting the 8330 from the App World, as it's a rather recent handset.
