Where is the guarantee that developers will -never- get screwed by App.net? Especially since the barrier to entry is $100? The DIP is a nice addition that will help those with solid ideas out of the gate, but they are still greatly restricting the developer pool by a pay-to-play model. Along with that, I still have seen no compelling reason to pay $5/month to be a member of a social network where there are sub-20k users who (I assume?) barely use the service.

App.net is just capitalizing on those annoyed with Facebook/Twitter developer policies. Great for their bank account and a really smart idea, but I still don't see value for anyone else. As someone else once said, "App.net is a social network for people who have $50 to show-off that they have $50 to blow." That's not a party I feel compelled to attend.

I'm open to a convincing argument though.