[nategri]

As a counterexample, Dark Sky is one of the few apps I pay for that has an endless array possible alternatives. The last time I looked all substitutes were ugly, clunky, bloated by ads, or all of the above. I pay so I don't have deal with an inferior experience in a frequently used app. So, while the details of what an app accomplishes may be easy to replicate... maybe there's always room for a premium experience?

[Pulcinella]

Indeed I would say that with an app like Dark Sky the value is almost entirely in the experience, in a way.

The data is provided by the government for “free” but weather.gov is not as well designed and presented as Dark Sky and other weather apps.