Most apps, particularly games are limited to a few dollars, which requires them to basically be hits. Reaching out to tons of people to make a hit, is difficult and expensive.
Giving a game away for free seems like an easy way to gain some marketshare. In practice it isn't enough. In other hit based businesses, companies use multi-faceted marketing strategies to get the word out, each one a lead bullet.
Unfortunately for app developers, measuring marketing efforts through the iTunes funnel is almost impossible. Where do they come from? What's working? Nobody knows. Its difficult for marketing pros, let alone a pair of developers who spend all their time developing and not marketing.
They just need to keep at it. Being an indie developer requires more than just developing. Marketing is part of the job. If they are determined enough they will get there. Its just tough to put 2 years into a project, thinking you are finished, and only realize you're at the halfway point.
Someone who isn't me once ate some funny mushrooms and Van Gogh's paintings appeared to him as though they were made with magic pixie paint that actively ebbed and flowed right before his eyes. That was the day he saw Van Gogh's genius in a new light. Does that mean Van Gogh only painted after eating similar funny mushrooms?
I'd like to be able to browse random people easier. A big "Show me another!" button would be cool. Then I could just sit there and while away the hours reading random thoughts from random people.
Ok, it may be "trollish" to say that the American way of life is unhealthy and bad for the environment and to express disapproval when this country spread its bad habits around the world. It is true nonetheless.
(Or maybe you think it is OK to eat 1kg of meat/day, own 1 car/person, drive 2h/day, eat burgers and watch TV?)
So facing this issue, two solutions:
1- Human being should be able to consume more, and therefore there need to be less of them.
2- Human being do not need to consume that much to be happy and, therefore, their demographics is not that much of an issue.
I'm happy to go on record here and the unerasable archives of internet history, risking my own reputation and that of my entire line of descendants, in saying that I am convinced this particular dog and pony show is a hoax.
A few years ago I got decent at a similar method so I could memorize a list of 20 items pretty quick. I thought I was the cat's pajamas for awhile until it dawned on me that I had never used it once outside showing off the trick. I've since lost the skill from non-use. Not to troll against the post or the poster, just my personal experience data point. But hey, I love seeing and learning new party tricks, so don't let me discourage anyone from trying out interesting things.
I still have that recurring dream that I've entirely forgotten about some college class, panicking, certain to fail and not graduate. Then I wake up to realize, "I'm not in school. Awesome!"
In the same vein, rich people are collectively waking up from this recession to realize, "Ha Ha! I'm still so loaded even my kids will never figure out how to spend it all. Awesome!"
Those people have to put their money somewhere. Wall Street is a decidedly less interesting choice these days.
