I really like this new direction that theme companies are taking. Personally what I think would be good is if the products are not "branded" i.e Projects by WooThemes. This will hinder other theme companies from using it because in the end they're promoting their competitor's plugin.

A solution which I fear would happen is a bunch of forks of the same plugin with different branding. Now what is ideal is what Justin is doing with his plugins.

A group of theme companies or developers need to join forces and collaborate on standalone projects rather than branding these simple but useful plugins. I think that way the entire community will benefit from it. Just my 2 cents.