I agree with the article and probably with you too on the large number of low-quality applications, but there is no obvious solution to the problem of decreasing quality coming with an increasingly large population (of developers, of HN users, of Usenet posters...)

In your opinion, what would common sense be in that case? Apple got criticized for censoring applications; True, that was because these applications were competing with Apple's own services, but the move still sent a strong message. Apple will probably want to retain a large control over what can go on an iPhone (hint: Flash wouldn't), and an arbitrary decision on what is acceptable or not in terms of quality can be a very bad thing. IMHO, the review process is probably the best hope in this case, the first few people buying an application rating it to warn (or invite) other customers.

There is a great solution... Only accept high quality apps but then let developers distribute on their own. That way all the stupid repackaged public domain books can be sold, but don't have to litter the app store.