They're a big deal for a few reasons, such as they set the norm for what the next year's apps will try to mimic, but I agree that it's a bummer to see so few OS X apps (well, app). Hopefully Yosemite will inspire people to get back to writing award-eligible OS X apps.

They're a reasonably big deal, a lot of the developer community look to see who wins and if there's an emerging pattern that links the winners.

I agree, they are kind of like the obvious choices. But then again, you can only innovate in the boundaries of the App Store approval.

Yeah, but they are quite large boundaries, given that it has over 1 millions apps in all kinds of genres and ideas.

If you can't innovate within those boundaries then you might be Frank Zappa or The Residents but you're not Jimi Hendrix or The Beatles. That is, you might be too wild for your own good.