I hope you're right about the transition and things getting better. Not sure how optimistic I am at least for the short term, as it is nearly 1.5 years since the App Store launched.

Hmm,, never think bout the exploitative part,, yeah, it's just some thoughts but i find it's interesting to let people involve in such application development..

Though it's nice to think about community involvement, I think it would be exceptionally hard to manage that. I think Apple needs to just allocate some of their billions to staffing up – properly and professionally – in this area.

so instead of hiring new people, and paying them a wage, you try and get people to devote their time for free, and without paying them. Sounds kind of exploitative.

I agree with you. From what I see, there are only a couple hundred new apps a day.

I know, i have read it. But 8500? It´s so simple to make a mistake with one zero :))
Anyway, they should take some priorities and aprove first updates for apps like facebook or give the priorities for some 1st class apps. I can barely imagine how many apps from the 8500 weekly are worth of some interest.

The 8,500 number is taken straight from Apple's replies to the FCC – I can't think why they would offer an inaccurate number to a government agency. Also, seeing the total number of apps we already have, and glancing at RSS feeds each day that show new and updated apps, I can easily believe it.