The app store wasn't immediately garbage, though. Apps on smart phones started off being inventive or at least interesting. It was when the gold rushers came in after seeing success that the system became increasingly filled with things designed not to help you the user, but to extract maximum profit from you as a customer.

I only disagree mildly; it's a matter of calling the 'start' of a sigmoid curve.

Already among the earliest apps on the app store, there was evidence of the bad incentives (eg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Rich 2008 or https://ifartmobile.com/ifart-debuts-the-worlds-first-fartin... 2009).

Within a couple years of the App Store I remember all manner of Crazy Frog garbage had flooded tech.

Absolutely. A lot changed with the advent of mobile devices, almost none of it for the better. Don't care if it's not in vogue to say it, lowering the barrier of entry to the Internet was a mistake. It was better when it was gatekept and companies weren't seeking to extract every possible dollar out of it.

I don't know, there's always been garbage software, it's just mass market now.

I also happen to think techies can get a bit snobbish about it all. Techies always just "know" to avoid garbage, but there must have always been a market for it. There's still a bunch of cool stuff you can get buried under free to play micro transactions/advert based games.

One of the things I like about the app store, and a reason I moved into mobile development, is that it's easier than ever to be a one man dev team again, good or bad