OK to answer this one you have to look at it just like the TV ads spoke of. We may not buy what the are advertising, but it is in our faces none the less, we still see it, and eventually enough people will start to wonder what all the hype is and try it out. Same with an app, we may not use it, but everytime we open our app drawers, there it is staring us in the face, you or I may never open that app we think is garbage, but enough subscribers will click it, and may even find it useful.
As to the question of roms, no it is not just the fact that it blocks ota updates, this is not really relevant to this particular question, as the apps updates all come from the market and therefore you can choose to update the program or not. What some/most roms allow you to do is remove the app completely from your phone, thus you never see it, and never give it another thought to try it out, therefore it is like people skipping through ads on their tivo, the companies paying for the ads are not going to pay what they used to, if they choose to pay up at all after their initial agreement. This is some serious revenue loss, and sorry if we all do not like it, that is what a business is all about...making revenue, when a business starts losing revenue, especially due to their customers defrauding them, they will take action to recuperate, and remove the loss of revenue. If you actually think Verizon, or any other big business gives more of a ratzass about us customers than they do about the almighty dollar, you are mistaken. They only care as long as we pay, and they care less than we pay!
