This seems like a bad outcome for consumers. I don't the context in Germany, but in my opinion: weather information should be a public service available to everyone for free.
Commercial providers can provide alternatives with features that people are willing to pay for. For example: better UI, push notifications when it's about to rain (as Dark Sky does), morning push reminders to take an umbrella if the day is looking rainy, etc.
The flip side is weather forecasting is a rapidly evolving field. R&D into techniques for more accurate forecasts is very expensive, and governments aren't great at that kind of innovation.
If all weather forecast apps were paid for, apps would have revenue to perfect their models, and true competition would exist between them, both in terms of price, but also quality of results.
What nonsense. Weather models are developed by scientists mostly funded by public grants. The models are run on publicly funded supercomputers, and the results are then regurgitated by companies trying to skim a buck off the traffic. The only innovation contributed by the private sector is serving ads and tracking users. The idea that MBA Joe Blo making a weather app is developing state of the art weather models is preposterous.
Put the Brazilian INPE in this list too, it's sad that some people created an imaginary world in their heads where innovation comes only from private companies...
When we're talking about physical sciences most of the work is done by universities and research centers, a lot of them funded by public money.
Commercial providers can provide alternatives with features that people are willing to pay for. For example: better UI, push notifications when it's about to rain (as Dark Sky does), morning push reminders to take an umbrella if the day is looking rainy, etc.