I don't think you took away at all what the point of the Gruber article was. Apple is protecting the bottom line. Yes they have some standard as to the quality of their products and the quality by which their products are perceived due to third party software, but the bottom line is the bottom line. It's measured in dollars.

If you have the most popular platform, people will develop for it. If they're using specialty tools, it's going to make it more difficult to port as well as get the same experience elsewhere. If people are developing in Flash, the iPhone platform is nothing more than a commodity since you can run the same software elsewhere.

The thing Apple knows how to do above all else, is make money.
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Bruno
Twisted Melon : Fine Mac OS Software