Yes they did indeed favor development, all while turning their backs on those who would have actually used the apps. A fine way to shoot oneself directly in the foot. I'm all for the encouragement of content consumption and offering a higher percentage to curators, as I stated in this post from a couple of days ago:
https://steemit.com/steem/@nonameslefttouse/how-much-have-you-spent-on-entertainment-in-your-lifetime

I'm not sure if you caught that one, but it's a good read.