That doesn't prove that the NYT's money was poorly spent. Decisions are always slow and expensive, and typing is quick. Copying an existing design is almost always cheaper than making the original.
And in many cases, copying is dramatically cheaper. My favorite example is the iOS game Threes[1], which took 14 months to make and then was cloned on android in ~20 days. It was cloned so quickly that the original developers were accused of copying the cloned version!
But just because the cloners made a functionally identical product doesn't mean they did the same work as the original designers. They got to skip designing anything - which is usually the hardest and slowest part.
And in many cases, copying is dramatically cheaper. My favorite example is the iOS game Threes[1], which took 14 months to make and then was cloned on android in ~20 days. It was cloned so quickly that the original developers were accused of copying the cloned version!
But just because the cloners made a functionally identical product doesn't mean they did the same work as the original designers. They got to skip designing anything - which is usually the hardest and slowest part.
[1] http://asherv.com/threes/threemails/