This was all true 5 years ago. When the App Store was announced, I bought a Mac and learned Obj-C and wrote a few apps. The most successful took off out of nowhere because someone wrote an article about it. It was on the top charts in my category and it paid for my truck, but not enough to retire on. It was a great ride while it lasted. I still get a little residual now and then from it. Maybe enough to buy lunch once a month.

I stopped writing apps probably 5 years ago when the market became super saturated. Like the article says, it's all about marketing. The players with deep pockets dominate and the programming Joe doesn't have a chance in hell anymore.