>> Apple needs to turn the App Store into a premium distribution channel (most people will still find their apps via the store) but create an unregulated channe

>> Apple needs to turn the App Store into a premium distribution channel (most people will still find their apps via the store) but create an unregulated channel for installing apps. Otherwise people will slowly migrate to platforms that are less restrictive, like Android. I don't necessarily disagree but I admit that I don't know that to be the case. One of the causes of Apple's growing arrogance, IMHO, is that everyone concluded Apple was wrong about 10 years ago in regards to the Mac. 10 years ago everyone said "Controlling the hardware and software of a computing platform is stupid and that's why Apple will always be a niche and Microsoft will always rule the market" Now it seems that might not be the case. With Apple's growing Mac sales and iPhone success Apple's theory that "controlling everything is good" seems to be justified and there's even a question as to whether Apple could retake the PC market (Quantcast recently put Web user market share at Apple: 29.4% vs Microsoft: 51.8%) Again, I'm not saying Apple's right. I don't know. But they're on a high right now and that high is based almost solely on the fact that they do insist on control. The theory being that people are so sick of all the cr@p on PCs that they're willing to submit to Apple's control and see it as a good thing. That's why Apple's pushing for more control via the app store.