A competing app was released within one week of mine late last October. I managed 1000 downloads in a week, he managed 10,000 in far less than that. His Google +1s also went to 381 almost immediately. His current # of Google +1s more than two months later: 389.
If he's ranked higher than you, he's most likely hitting the factors better than you.
As for that "more holistic" approach, Bots don't usually uninstall apps that they've downloaded. They just get re-instantiated (and possibly reused to further help pad results).
Also if PPI was used, a lot of cash was blown to get 10k downloads and 381 Google +1s sandwiched into a manner of hours. That means the developer either has an inside track or lots of cash to blow and no thought to ever seeing a return.
Sorry, don't know why this is upsetting to ask...