I think stuff like this is one of the reasons that there aren't many serious big ticket apps on the store (at ones that aren't also available elsewhere).

If I were to develop for iPhone there is no way I would invest serious R&D time and money into something with the risk that this could happen. More likely I'd just build a bunch of $1-5 apps and have them suddenly flatlining either because of this or user apathy factored into my plans.

I wouldn't trust the arbitrary mercies of any large corporation to put food on my (hypothetical) kid's table.