Your final conclusion is about right.

Also, keep in mind, a large portion of the growth of Twitter was driven by the technical innovation of 3rd-party developers (ie the first iOS app)

They built their service on the back of cool things developers built, and now seem intent on destroying the very same ecosystem which ensured their popularity now that they are succesful -> http://daltoncaldwell.com/what-twitter-could-have-been

I think this sucks, and I am trying to do something about it, rather than just complain on the Internet.