The design of an app matters so much to some (myself included) and that's honestly one of the biggest reasons why I pay to support Overcast, the podcatcher from Marco Arment (who created Instapaper).
While some users may not see the need for some of these apps (a former colleague always just defaults to Apple's apps for simplicity's sake), these applications are the real lifeblood of the iPhone, and one of the reasons why I didn't really like my month with Android. So, it's on the iPhone user base that appreciates well-made and independently-owned applications to make sure that developers can fund their work, and put a roof over their heads and feed themselves and their families. That work isn't just needed once a year, either, as you probably notice if you manually update apps in the App Store app: development is a year-round process. Every time Apple delivers an update to its operating systems, the changes made force developers to do more work, to either support new features or fix bugs created by the changes. We're on the verge of all-new Apple software platforms, including the release of iOS 14, along with iPadOS 14, macOS Big Sur and watchOS 7. Plus: iPhone 12 event announcement reportedly coming tomorrow.iPhone 12 release date, price, specs and leaks.
