Many "average" users don't know what they want, don't even realize the options that are available to choose from (i.e. the different ways an app can be built), and/or will accept whatever is offered.

Though it wasn't patently insulting, you have gone ad hominem - "to the man" - rather than the idea. Whether one is a developer or not, doesn't have any bearing on whether economy and efficiency are worthwhile values in a computer application. Although it so happens that developers tend to also be users. If they ARE users, then they represent users. Also in the sense of acting as an advocate of sorts for the user, developers represent users.

"Average" users having never been offered the thing being proposed here (faster and ad-free versions of the same apps, with the same network effects etc.), I don't see how you can state with any confidence that they wouldn't have chosen them, were they available.