Getting people to care about something is hard, what else is new. If you build a genuinely great product, distribution will be a lot less of a problem. Many users will tell their friends, journalists will be receptive.
If you build a 'meh' product, yep, you're going to have a hard time.
Hi David, I definitely agree with you. But there have been a few occasions, at least, where I've seen a great product and they have initial downloads, but it's tough to keep sticky. Again, this isn't an apology, but I believe the burden rests solely on app makers in this case.
It helps to recognize that the iOS app store is only a distribution mechanism for most developers. Distribution is not a problem. The problem is marketing. But marketing is a problem for most developers anyway, doesn't matter if you are building iOS apps or web apps.