Apple’s strategy has always been to first bring in customers who are willing to pay for high quality, and then let developers fend for themselves in that environment. This was true at the time of these ads and it’s true now.

If you’re a developer, Apple isn’t going to say nice things about you, or make it particularly easy to get your app in the App Store, or give you everything for free. It’s going to give you access to a good platform with good users. Some developers seem to think this is insulting and others seem relieved.