Are you suggesting that the iOS App Store and Google Play Store aren't "flooded with low quality applications by amateurs"?

To me it seems that a (relatively) high barrier to entry, and an approval process (in Apple's case), haven't really stopped lots of crappy apps from making it in.

Personally I'm all for lowering barriers to entry. It's arguably one of the greatest things about the web.

No, if I wanted to say that I would have said that. I'm saying, lowering the barrier to entry is barely needed. If anything you've just outlined my point. The barrier to entry is apparently so low that all app stores regardless of developer complexity are already flooded with crap.

So the barrier needs to be lowered... why?

Well, the facetious answer would be that we can break the 1st world's hold on the fart app and tip calculator market.

The world is flooded with low quality products.

That just means that it's useless to browse your options in an alphabetical paginated view.

Couldn't agree more. Low quality is not the problem. App stores and their "discoverability" is the real problem.

Just because we don't know the likelihoods doesn't mean they are equally as likely. Don't confuse quantity of information (little) with quality or content of information.

If both are equally likely, then we might as well be optimists; the glass is half full.

I kind of chose "equally likely" as a way to avoid rattling any cages. Obviously, I don't personally feel it's equally likely. I think the scales are heavily tipped towards irrelevancy.

Sounds like the web... So what?