Also improve the review system. It's almost certain that if you don't beg for reviews using Appirater, you will get practically none.
And if you update the app, the reviews reset -- which gives developers an extreme disincentive to keep their app updated, especially during the long tail period.
* That will just amplify the effect of featured apps and then you lose all meaningful organic app discovery and a large chunk of the meritocracy of the store.
* Great but that will probably not make a huge difference.
1) Relevance to the search term seems too low. I just did a search for "twitter" on the iPhone app store and six of the top 10 results had nothing to do with Twitter.
2) Maybe you're right, I'd still like to see Apple try it.
3) It doesn't have to be a huge difference for it be worth doing. A lot of little positive changes will add up.
* Improve App Store search results
* Remove the top lists and blunt the 'rich getting richer' effect the lists amplify
* Put their share of App sales on sliding scale, so you only start giving Apple the full 30% after you've reached $X in sales