All of the bullshit f2p apps out there generate incredible revenue for Apple. Clash of clans alone generates 1M/day. That's 300k/day Apple gets for doing nothing.
Apple would have to give up that free cash.... Not happenimg.
The App Store generates such an insubstantial amount of cash (for Apple, as compared to their other platforms and products) that it would be completely insane for them not to focus on the long-term quality of the store — which would be a driver for their hardware sales.
I am absolutely certain that they realise this, but it just happens to be an incredibly difficult problem to solve without basically rejecting 90% of the apps that get submitted.
Where by nothing you mean "run the App Store".
I think the closest we've seen to curated lists is the "Indie Spotlight" that Apple has done for the past few months, where they feature an indie dev and list that dev's own games and the dev's favorite games to play. But this list refreshes every month, isn't archived, and seems to be sporadically featured on the main tab of the App Store.
If Apple were to open that ability to a select few approved groups (like Touch Arcade), that would be a huge step forward for Apple, and it would still be nowhere near what Valve has done with Steam's curated lists.
Places like Touch Arcade and other curations also highlight lots of great games. There needs to be the ability to make curated lists like a mall within the app stores just like Steam or the actual internet.
The markets and stores should always be open to developer submissions, they should always have top lists of different types and categories, but they also need curated lists of games that you can browse and find within the store. This alone would put more quality games in the top lists that actually have gameplay and are worth it.