Honestly, I am conflicted about this endeavor. As a current App.net customer/user, I was very confused about the original announcement because the idea has nothing whatsoever to do with the current App.net product. So now I am worried that App.net as I understand it today might go away if you head in this new direction (I see in the FAQ you will support the current product for a year).
On the one hand, I am over Twitter. Done. It is way too noisy now, and I have been severely burned by their dev ecosystem. I put in so much time and effort (naively, I admit), and the aftertaste is super bitter. You and I have talked about this before at length, so I won't go into detail. That level of ecosystem-scorching has made me hesitant to put a lot of time and effort into something new and similar. This may be unfounded since I know you are wanting to do the right thing by your developers, but still the soreness remains and affects my judgement.
There are other non-ad-supported systems for this type of communication out there. Some are federated (status.net), some are not (heello.com). You and I both watched the immediate demise and shaming of heello. How will this be different? Perhaps it is the pay-to-play nature that will keep the trolls out at the start.
On the other hand, I can see where this would be very useful if it was in fact implemented correctly as an actual real-time feed platform. Using a combination of webhooks (pubsubhubbub) and data-streams (e.g. twitter streaming API), this could be a really powerful platform for developers, builders, and makers to finally bring about The Internet of Things that many have been dreaming about. I am worried that this is such a niche desire of a few inventive hackers that there won't be enough support behind it to sustain it as a centralized company (however, I don't see how an open, federated system is sustainable in this fashion either, so).
I know you are very passionate about this problem. We've discussed it before. I know this is something that you want to see exist, and so as a fellow builder and maker you are insanely driven to see it become a reality. I understand this drive. I just don't want it to derail your company :)
I don't know. I'm excited but hesitant. I have not backed the project yet because I'm still not sure... I have a lot of thoughts in this space as well, so maybe we should talk in person. I will be watching the progress intently!