Brekken's Law (assuming that's his surname from the email in his profile). It's a snowclone of Zawinski's law of software development[1]:
Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail. Those programs which cannot so expand are replaced by ones which can.
It really is true. My previous employer had a dream of turning their extremely specific web app into a platform, with an app store and everything. I assume that being a platform means big bucks, idk.
Any examples of programs which has started out as an app in an app store, and then expanded into an app store of its own, and then the app store had swallowed the original app store?
Don't think that's necessarily true. Yes, lots of programs implement app stores or plugin systems. But often the users also don't want to fiddle with add-ons, their installation and settings. They want a good and well-integrated out-of-the box experience. Especially if they are not from the tech domain.
E.g. let's look at Eclipse: It was based purely on AddOns right from the beginning. And still many people want to replace it with other things (probably without AddOns).
