Some how they have succeeded in enthralling tons of developers and tons of end users. I can't help think that part of that is that because the process is actually pretty good in the scheme of things.
It would be really expensive to deal with every bitchy developer who had a problem, personally.
I mean, Google operates the same way and they are great. It's nearly impossible to email anyone for support for any Google product.
Come to think of it though, in terms of buying things, the 'biggest' market is probably all those crappy ring tones and things of that ilk, although it's probably not of much interest to 'hacker news' types.
So how can you complain?? If it weren't for Apple it would be orders of magnitude harder to make money on phone software.
Some things are tricky and unintuitive, but that's the way it is in any market. Selling a product just isn't easy. You are always fighting against smart people, and there are unknowns.
I feel like people shouldn't get into the App Store market thinking that they will make a million dollars their first app. Only a few people can succeed like that at any time. But, if you jump through Apple's hoops, listen to your customers, and try and serve a real need, you can make a living on the iPhone.
People expect launching an iPhone app to be like launching a website, which you can do in a single day. They expect to be able to push whatever code they want, and push releases whenever they want.
Well, the App Store isn't like that. And while my website is fun and cool, it doesn't make much money. My iPhone app does.