That's interesting to me: that may explain the desire to keep the App store "clean" and the occasional hurt they put on developers. The App store reels people in; if they aren't making money on it the risks of bad publicity is higher than the risk of losing some apps
I think Apple still believes that they can get away with their App store policies because they still are to some degree the only game in town. It will be interesting to see how they will react to Android. We might see their policies change in some shape or form.
And to clarify, I would LOVE to see Google/Android gain on Apple if only because it will benefit consumers, but so far I've been extremely disappointed. Regardless of some developer drama Apple continues to blow everyone else out of the water.
Say what you want, the iPhone works great.
I don't see how Android's marketplace will ever be a threat to Apple's. Just look at the financial incentives: Apple is in the game to make money off the devices and the content royalties. Google is in the game to commoditize the devices that people use to see ads, and Android applications are a complement to those devices. To Apple, the App Store is both itself a source of income and a complement to their primary source of income. To Google, the Android Marketplace as a complement to a complement to their source of income.