No it's not fool's gold, startups are generating millions in revenue from both. They are simply a reflection of a globalized market place, you're competing with

No it's not fool's gold, startups are generating millions in revenue from both. They are simply a reflection of a globalized market place, you're competing with developers in under developed countries. What's fool's gold to you, is riches to them. Don't mistaken AppStore or Fb for anything more than a distribution platform. Hopefully Apple and Facebook will address the growing problem of app-overload so quality can bubble to the top, but it's not their fault you're facing more competition. And for all the faults — they've both solved a lot of really big problems and continue to drive innovation. Yes it's hard and frustrating at times. But, building a value-driven business takes years of dedication. 37signals, amazon, apple, ms, gary v, digg, flickr, fb, are not over-night successes. Put down Fast Company and pickup Forbes once in a while.