Apps that stay at the top for weeks on end make lots of money -- up to several millions per year.
As for the App Store, just like ANY OTHER marketplace, it won't make you rich in itself, just for appearing there and "putting the work"...
Paid Mac apps, no. The article is about the Mac App Store, not iOS. Even among iOS, however, the most successful apps are free ones with a viral incentive to do in-app purchases.
Most of the top apps have an external influence. 4 of the top 10 come out of Apple. Look at top games on Mac - most of them are major publishers. Even "independent" apps had a following outside of the Mac App Store, like 1Password.
Citation needed.
I'm pretty sure Pixelmator, 1Password, Angry Birds, Call of Duty, GTA S.A., etc -- apps that are consistently on the MAS top ten make lotsa money.
Apps that stay there for a few days or so, because of initial momentum or some good review, don't -- but that's a matter of the algorithm favoring them.
>Most of the top apps have an external influence. 4 of the top 10 come out of Apple.
Actually in the current top 10 only one comes from Apple (Facetime). And it's still one until the top-40. That might be the case on my country's MAS though, but still.
>Look at top games on Mac - most of them are major publishers.
Sure, why wouldn't it be the case? They have the best products, more polished, and more marketing money (and tons of pre-existing fans for their game series).
But that's beside the point (the point being whether it pays well to be on the top of MAS or not).
Regarding MAS not making you rich for a couple weeks effort app like Redacted, that just chanced to be on top for a few days and didn't have a stable top path (and the respective big sales), that's obvious. No known market will do that.
The article claims the Mac App Store sales is measured in thousands for the top apps. Care to point to your sources which claim three magnitudes more?