And this is the root of the problem- lack of discoverability for apps.

Once you have several thousand apps (not to mention 1MM+), it becomes exceedingly difficult to find apps that are relevant to you. Someone might create a better app than the one you have on your phone, or one that you don't even realize you need, but how will you know about it?

If you can only rely on the App Store rankings and search engine, you are going to have to spend alot of time looking through irrelevant results- most people don't have that kind of time.

The result is (as brought up in the article) that app developers need more sophisticated 'growth-hacking' techniques outside of the ecosystem, which tend to be hit or miss depending on some degree of luck.

There have been several app discovery platforms like AppGratis and Chomp, but Apple has shut them all down. Apple may have wanted to preserve the Appstore as the single authority on their apps, but now they have created a more dangerous, and possibly existential crisis for themselves- irrelevance of the app ecosystem.

Why should I create apps (or invest in app developers) if my chance of success is less than 0.1%? As a consumer, I may still buy Apple devices, but it will be less because of the great apps, which will become increasingly scarce.

When the roll out of ios 7 or 8 occurred, the games on the first week at the app store were ridiculous cheesy items. It made the case that the back end at Apple was not cared for.

Looking at this weeks AppStore front page offerings, a lot of them were from the previous week's AppStore offerings; no change essentially. I have slowly stopped going to the store as a source for anything.

What I need is a web page that tells me where to go for XYZ App, who has the newest option, and how much it costs. I bought Assembly the week it came out because it addressed a need of mine for basic graphic design, simply done. Then, I want to say the week after, it was free on the AppStore. I have been burned three times so far by jumping on something only to see it released for free a few weeks later. I AM LOOKING AT YOU ALTO's JOURNEY.

Ultimately, we should all learn from Rovio's trajectory:

1. One-hit wonder

2. Ramp up to find more customers

3. Sales from new customers goes down as saturation sets in

4. New product fails to deliver

5. Turn on existing customers to have them pay a monthly fee to deliver a stable income.

Look at the DayOne's App movement on the AppStore (I love this app, but unfortunately I know they will move to a revenue model after my three years of using their app).