They want centralized marketing, distribution, security and payment handling which the HTML option doesn't have. They could build a website selling these apps i

They want centralized marketing, distribution, security and payment handling which the HTML option doesn't have. They could build a website selling these apps if they wanted, but that would be work outside of developing, which they don't want to do. Actually, no, I don't think I've ever heard anyone complain about lack of a central marketing and distribution channel. Having one is nice but many developers would do away with it if it also means doing away with Apple's draconian control policies. In any case, the argument is bogus because there's no reason why you can't have both except that it doesn't directly serve Apple's interests.