Assuming that this functionality is about to become part of AirPlay, what would you have Apple do?
Do you have Apple continue to sell this app even though it's about to become a free feature of the OS? Or does Apple not implement this rather logical extension to their existing AirPlay feature simply because someone already wrote a utility to do the same?
Both those options are rather lousy for Apple's customers.
Any developer who writes a utility to implement some missing feature of the OS understands that their feature probably won't be missing forever.
How is allowing the app to exist a lousy experience for their customers? There is no harm in allowing competing versions of the same feature, especially if the other version was there first and people were using it.
I can see rejecting new apps that duplicate existing functionality, but proactively un-approving and pulling apps that implement a feature that might exist later?
You purchase this app, then the next day somebody else announces the same feature as a third-party app for free.
It's not Apple's concern whether people feel ripped off over third-party apps. They'll let you do all kinds of crazy things, like keep old versions on the store and still charge for them even after a new version comes out, or totally nerf a new version while allowing no way for people to downgrade.
Nope, I thought it was worth $1 the day before and I would still think it is a nice feature. I'd blame Apple for that for being so opaque or for not including it in the first place. The developer is not the problem in my eyes -- they just made an awesome feature for my phone.
Perhaps most customers have a different stance than I do, though.
Do you have Apple continue to sell this app even though it's about to become a free feature of the OS? Or does Apple not implement this rather logical extension to their existing AirPlay feature simply because someone already wrote a utility to do the same?
Both those options are rather lousy for Apple's customers.
Any developer who writes a utility to implement some missing feature of the OS understands that their feature probably won't be missing forever.