I disagree. Their current 'There's an app for that' advertising campaign is clearly targeted at people who would like certain applications on their phone, irrespective of the phone itself. If they see the iPhone can do what they wish, they will be more inclined to purchase one.

I personally know of several people who have recently purchased iPhones and the App store was a major consideration for them.

I totally disagree — the iPhone isn't that great of a phone without 3rd party apps. I mean, it has an awesome browser and such, but I cant imagine owning a phone which didn't have a big 3rd party ecosystem behind it.