You are right, I have but a little anecdotal evidence. In my experience there does exists a group of designers who view Apple to be the gospel of UI design, which can sometimes lead to them ignoring other schools of thought.

So if I've got this right... It's those nasty lazy designerses fault, and has nothing to do with Androids colossal shortcomings either as a platform to develop for, or to earn a living from?

No. And I said, these designers are a minority. Android is definitely hard to get "right" design-wise, but it can be done.

But if all you are trying to do is make it look like iOS, you are on the wrong track.

Monetization issues are a separate problem as far as I can see. While money can shift priorities, but shouldn't affect design.