"Is it the new norm to only start using apps that's already stable and in the app store?"

Wait, are you saying that there was ever a time when it was the norm to find a website that promised an app, and then send your UDID to the makers of that site in the hopes of receiving an IOS archive from them that you then have to drag via iTunes onto your phone?

You guys suffer from tech myopia. I am very technical, I have written iOS apps, and I would never put something onto my iOS devices that I just received from some dude on the Internet, and I know that Apple puts a fat sandbox around it; compare that to an average user who only know how to get apps from the App Store.