Uhh, RSS is an open standard you can probably view feeds with a Gopher client if you really wanted to. Google Reader is just the easiest free service for keeping what you have and haven't read in sync, you don't have to use it at all to use RSS though.
Darn, now I kinda wish I had gone ahead and posted an article on hypocrisy like I originally intended too. No matter, I'll upload it tomorrow!
A web app would be the way to go; there's no need for a downloadable app unless Hodapp et al want to make some extra money via iAds. RSS feeds are nice but what I really like about Appshopper is the wishlist function and being able to search by update status. So when Gameloft has a massive 99c sale, I can find everything quickly and without constant zooming in and out. For Touch Arcade, it would be nice to have a mobile view like many Wordpress sites have. That would make it much easier to navigate the comments too. And it would be pure bliss if the forums were mobile enabled. Check out atariage.com on your iPhone for a sample of mobilization done very well. Problem is, that site's about Atari not iOS!
And then use Push Reader to watch for keywords so you will be the first notified about the next "emulator" or "tethering" app. "You got your push notifications in my RSS feeds!" "You got your RSS feeds in my push notifications!"
RSS is so 2009. "Let's do a cutting edge app with the latest technology and morph 3 of the hottest websites into one solid piece of app!" "Nah, just get an RSS reader."
I would love to see a native iPhone and iPad appshopper app. It's superior browsing experience to the app store and for some reason Apple really butchered the iPad app store browsing experience. It's almost impossible to see what the most popular apps are in a specific category and I don't like seeing free apps cluttered in with the paid ones
