A lot of this has to do with the fact that app discovery on the iOS platform is broken. Granted it's a lot better than Google Play (or whatever that market is called now), but it's still skewed. Small indie developers without huge marketing budgets or paid people in China to download their app stands little chance of cracking the top 1000, or 100, where the financial goal of "break even" is achieved.
I agree that if I'm looking for an app that finding it can be a pain right now. But, are there really scores of amazing apps from small indie developers that are languishing because they can't afford to pay people in China to get them into the top 1000?
I feel like what you are describing are the faddish/scammy types of apps that people attempt to make a quick buck on and not the great indie apps by a small team. Great apps will be found and bubble to the top. Bad apps that are trying to make a quick buck by just being popular are always going to be fighting an uphill battle.
I've been in the Top 1000. I've been as high as #1 in the Social Networking category in certain countries (though just top 20 in the category in the USA). My peak earnings were ~$1000 per year. About enough money to hire a developer for a day ($120/hr was the going rate, especially at that time).
Despite my best efforts and what I thought seemed like decent rankings, I ultimate had to chalk it up as a failed business. You could argue the quality of my app was not there, but I definitely poured what I could into it with entirely honest intentions.
Unless you have something really special, it's hard out there. The more niche your product, the harder it becomes to get noticed amongst the cruft.
My first app has been in the top 1000 of its category most of the time. Never made it to the top 200 yet (been to 203 and 205 - argh). That's with zero marketing budget, no external reviews (yet), and just keyword matches and the occasional social media hit. It's kind of blind luck on my part, but having an app that sits in an underserved niche is key. Getting good keywords was a big boost.
Google Play has been a waste for me. I even launched a free ad-supported version of the same app there and it gets less downloads a day than I sell on iOS or Nook. Yes - more people buy the same app on Nook than download it for free from Google Play. That shows how broken discovery is on Google Play. Well that and how small the Nook store inventory is.
