Newsweek has a great article on the reality of publishing apps through Apple’s app store. I had a feeling that commoditization of iPhone applications would eventually happen, that people would stop making serious money on the next iFart app, but I didn’t expect it to happen as fast as it has. From the article:

In almost a dozen interviews conducted by NEWSWEEK, Apple consultants and programmers jettison the idea that the App Store is a world of easy opportunity, or a fast track to quitting the rat race. Instead they describe an anxiety-wracked marketplace full of bewildering rules, long odds, and little sense of control over one’s success or failure. “It’s kind of a crapshoot,” says Demeter, who spent the last two weekends partying in Las Vegas and New York. “I think we’ve reached a point where people are thinking I shouldn’t quit my day job for this.”

It’s interesting that we consider App stores to be different from other forms of digital distribution such as Steam, Vault, and so on. Anyways, we’ll see how this plays out, publishers may start publishing less frequently, or the app store marketing / undercutting game may continue.