Damus always had a limited mainstream life because of this. I was surprised they even managed to get it added to the app store.
The developers have achieved so much in such a short space of time. I don't think this was a total waste & that there's value in demonstrating how captured & restricted the stores are. This shouldn't be viewed as a mistake on the part of developers.
Some phone users now have some decisions to make as do some developers. Competition within Nostr clients is good for Nostr.