iPhone developer: You need Apple but Apple doesn't need you

It seems that Apple has been caught off guard by the fact that the 12 month anniversary has come and gone for some iPhone developers and they've not had their developer contract renewed. It seems that Apple has no clue as to what's going on or when this issue will be resolved. It's also emerged that new developers are having to wait months to be accepted onto the program. Reality is, apart from the developers themselves, no one cares.

Over the past year I've spoken to a number of iPhone developers and I've been surprised by the number of them who feel that it's the developers who made the iPhone the success it is by offering exciting and innovative applications to customers. This view, to say the least, is delusional.

iPhone developers are tiny irrelevant cogs in a massive Apple-branded global machine. Developers, along with their applications, can come and go and the overall effect on Apple and iPhone sales will be zero. Exiting developers will be replaced by the applications of the next generation of developers hoping to strike it big.

Sure, Apple needs developers to populate the App Store, but individually the developers don't mean squat. Apple will never hit a situation where it's short of developers. In fact, a quick look at the App Store suggests that Apple would be better off with fewer developers. The App Store is overflowing with junk apps that wouldn't have been written if there hadn't been a captive customer base. A weeding out of existing developers might be good for iPhone users.

Thoughts?