I definitely find it beneficial to use the App Store, despite all of it's shortcomings. For better or worse, the new model allows me to focus on development (and appeasing Apple), instead of having to worry about all the stuff I don't care about (designing a site, doing even basic marketing, etc). Which is not to say that those things don't help, they definitely do, it's just that they're not a barrier to making money like they are in unmanaged marketplaces.
I'm curious. Given what you're going through, are you nonetheless finding it beneficial to produce/sell software in this new paradigm (where a third-party vendor is so dictatorial)? I continue to find it amazing that developers are accepting (if not in fact embracing) this bizarre, new, vendor-moderated marketplace.