I upvoted you, because I think you raise a valid question. IMO, to build a successful smartphone that is appealing to the average user, that smartphone will re

I upvoted you, because I think you raise a valid question. IMO, to build a successful smartphone that is appealing to the average user, that smartphone will require a base of desirable applications. I see basically two routes to attempt to achieve this: 1) Build a phone that is so desirable to average users that app developers will find it profitable to develop for it (eg, iPhone). 2) Build a phone that is so desirable to developers that many will pick it up regardless of the profitability of the market. Then hope that these apps are of sufficient quality/desirability that they become part of making the phone desirable to average users. #1 is incredibly difficult to achieve right now due to the maturity of the market, with two major players. Even Microsoft is having a tremendous amount of difficulty with this route. For Canonical, I believe it would be effectively impossible. With #2, getting to step 1 (modest developer adoption) is easy. Where it often breaks down, is in getting the developers to build apps that aren't just appealing to them (eg, more terminal apps, more ssh apps, more special purpose tools that appeal to geeks, etc). But modest developer adoption is better than no adoption at all, perhaps? I honestly don't see Canonical having much success with this at all, but I don't think avoiding apps that are appealing to coders will help in their case.