> Apple has already demonstrated several times over that the professional market isn't really of much interest to them anymore.
There is one group of professionals Apple cannot do without: developers. One of the main appeals of both iOS and the Mac is the availability of exclusive, high-quality apps. I expect that limiting all app distribution to the Mac App Store will send developers running to other platforms. A platform without developers is an empty shell, and Apple knows this.
I have different expectations from my iOS device and from my Mac. My main work machine must give me the freedom to install whatever I want, since limiting this freedom would be crippling. But I don't require this of my phone, since I don't see the added benefit. This is a practical point of view, and I bet it is common among developers.
Perhaps in the future most development will take place in SSH sessions on a remote machine, and then closing down the Mac will not longer be a problem, but I don't see how that would work today.
There is one group of professionals Apple cannot do without: developers. One of the main appeals of both iOS and the Mac is the availability of exclusive, high-quality apps. I expect that limiting all app distribution to the Mac App Store will send developers running to other platforms. A platform without developers is an empty shell, and Apple knows this.