[arrrg]

No, this is not what Apple wants. They make (practically) no money from people buying more apps.

It’s just a bad user experience they haven’t fixed (hopefully yet). Apple’s main goal is and will always be selling more devices. That’s how they make money. If they do sell more devices (as was the case here) it is not in their best interest to make you jump through hoops.

You fail to understand at a fundamental level what kind of company Apple is.

(By the way, this is not what Apple wants for the simple reason that you already don’t have to repurchase anything. You can put apps on any and all devices you control, the problem is just that you have to transfer them using iTunes – and that’s a train-wreck Apple seems to be unaware of. But it is possible.)

[drivebyacct2]

Having one account = one person = one device is clearly lucrative for Apple.

[arrrg]

Again: That was not the issue here. You are lumping another (very real) issue together with the issue discussed in the post.