A well tended walled garden in the form of an App Store for Apple Tablet computers and newer consumer-oriented computers would provide a lot of value.
To most users, a general purpose computer is a power tool that they'll never make full use of. What most people really want in a personal computer is a backplane for various appliances. They just want to buy those things, install them, and have them just work. If an App Store ecosystem could mean Apple could completely shepherd users and take care of their every need, then this would add value in much the same way. And Apple would be able to figure out how to market this and get paid handsomely. This is the exactly the direction that Apple is going with their retail stores. (Especially with the revamp to increase the social interactivity.)
I think so too. We've enjoyed some good times with security-through-obsecurity on OSX but it's not going to last forever. I'm leaning towards wanting most of my apps being vetted and distributed through a trusted source. Of course I would want to keep the option to install anything I wanted. Given the choice I would choose to install via a Mac App Store whenever possible. I feel like anti-virus, anti-malware, etc are like missile defense. Yeah it might work most of the time, in theory, but if one slips past and hits your city it doesn't really matter. I find when I use Windows these days I am irrationally paranoid about installing any third party software. If/When OSX increases in popularity and becomes a bigger target I fear the same thing will happen.
To most users, a general purpose computer is a power tool that they'll never make full use of. What most people really want in a personal computer is a backplane for various appliances. They just want to buy those things, install them, and have them just work. If an App Store ecosystem could mean Apple could completely shepherd users and take care of their every need, then this would add value in much the same way. And Apple would be able to figure out how to market this and get paid handsomely. This is the exactly the direction that Apple is going with their retail stores. (Especially with the revamp to increase the social interactivity.)