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> I don't want a vendor to get inbetween me and my user audience, but that problem applies equally to iOS devices and gaming consoles.

So, pre-iPhone, the market for downloadable apps for mobile phones was huge and there wasn't any intermediary parties (like, say, network operators) getting in the way of developers, right?

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On my Palm Treo, apps were plentiful and there was no intermediary.

And widely used by millions of people?

Yes, several million Treos alone were sold, and the Palm ecosystem was much larger than just the Treo line. http://blog.treonauts.com/2006/03/sales_double_ov.html

For a number of years, Palm OS was the dominant mobile ecosystem, with sales almost double of its main competitor WindowsCE.

Several million devices sold ≠ several million people buying software for device.

Where did I say that again?

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