While those developers' words and actions may have some merit, there a single point that everyone seems to forget: it's a store. Just like any other store. Software developers (or anyone really) can't just create a product, go to a store, and leave it on the shelf and expect a profit share with the store. Whenever you have to sell your product in a regular store, the store has to approve of the product first. How is the App Store any different?

Another argument one could have is that why then won't Apple allow applications to be sold or installed from other stores? Just like how we have multiple stores in real life. Apple only cares about one thing here: the user's experience. The App Store is a single repository of all apps available for it. From a user's point of view, this can't get any easier. When a user needs to purchase and install an app, all they have to do is search for it in one location. And it's not like they're running a monopoly with the App Store - Apple does not dictate the price - the developer/publishers of the app do.

Before the App Store, a mobile marketplace did not exist. Yes. Any store that may have existed prior to the App Store failed miserably - and I'm measuring that purely by user experience. Previous online stores for Symbian and Windows Mobile devices are a good example of this failure.

As a developer of iPhone apps, do I think the approval process is flawed? In some cases, sure. I wouldn't mind (really wouldn't mind) a shorter approval time for my apps. But overall I'm incredibly grateful there's this amazing platform that allows me to sell my apps so easily. And if you follow the store's guidelines, you can too.