Comment by karaterobot

I think they did bring programming to the people by way of the app store. Maybe they didn't make it so your aged granny can write an automation script, but that more people than ever were inspired to learn programming. They made two languages and a proprietary hardware/software/distribution stack that brought a lot of people into the world of software development. I know so many people a generation younger than me who learned programming specifically to make apps for the app store. People who would probably not have gone into development but for the iPhone. I'm sure Apple did not intend to mint new programmers, they intended to sell hardware and make money on software, but the net effect is more programmers than ever as a result of their choices.