iFlowReader is closing and in a candid open letter, the service blames Apple for “changing the rules in the middle of the game”.

Facebook Indie Games argues:

If you are an iOS developer then no matter how much money you’re making diversify now. If iFlowReader had put out HTML5, Flash, and Android apps while times were good they may be in a different position now. Still painful but at least sustainable.

It’d be great to have some figures to back this up across a number of app/game types. I agree that, in theory, diversification is a good thing, and—from a business standpoint—a platform-agnostic approach (even if you build specific delivery mechanisms for each platform) enables you to cast a wider net.

But all we hear about these days is that iOS device owners have been trained to buy content and so they do so, but Android owners want free, and desktop/laptop users often also moan when presented with firewalls and paid content, preferring the free route as well.

So while it’s great to argue that iFlowReader would still be in a sustainable position had it also created an Android app and an HTML5/Flash version of its offering, there’s absolutely no guarantee that’s the case, just as there’s no guarantee even the most popular iOS app and game offerings could survive if Apple saw fit to ‘force’ them off the platform.