Samantha Bielefeld:
The issue isn’t that Marco is successful, there are many app developers who would love to be in the same position. He has earned his time in the spotlight, and it’s only natural for him to take advantage of it. Though to state that anyone can simply do the same thing and be successful, is just plain wrong.
Some great points in here, something about Overcast’s new pricing model has felt off with me since I read about it. I think a lot of it is encapsulated in Bielefeld’s post.
Launching apps, even if you have a name, is incredibly hard. What helps Arment is not so much that he can get the press coverage, but that his core audience is larger than most people’s. And it is that core audience which will spend money on whatever you do.
(BTW, if you aren’t reading Bielefeld’s blog, there’s no better time to start.)
UPDATE 11-25-15: While I think this linked post still makes very solid points, I can no longer in good conscience recommend reading the original source content’s author.
For posterity the original link point to: http://samanthabielefeld.com/journal/the-elephant-in-the-room