[yellowapple]

"But to state that 'Apple's monopoly' has driven the price of software up is to be laughably out of touch with reality."

I reckon the rationale here is twofold:

* The currently-mandatory 30% fee would now be optional, as would be the flat developer fee (if it still exists; I haven't really looked into it in a long time)

* The availability of additional stores means the availability of different apps that might not be available on Apple's store, thus increasing competition and driving down prices through more typical supply/demand curves.

[tracker1]

I think this will make iPorn a reality on iOS outside the browser... though seriously, I'd love to see an app store for only reviewed/paid apps with no spyware/adware guarantees. Facebook/LinkedIn wouldn't be available on it because of their spyware activities. That would mean actually higher-quality apps.