Here's the longer version:
I've been a mobile software developer for 6 years. I've written software for BREW, JavaME, Android, to name a few. I've also published a book about Android (msg me if you want to know the title) so I have a little experience on the subject.
What we're seeing, essentially, is new money vrs old money. In the old way, one's relationship with the carrier was valued above all things. They were the gatekeepers of their respective markets. What they said went, and that was final. But it wasn't always this way.
In the beginning of the BREW and j2me world, it was a free-for-all. Anyone could get rich with a ring tone or wallpaper app. Over the years, however, the big players crowded out the amatures and what's left is a pretty stable system where only the well connected can make any serious money. Deck placement and promotion matter above all else and it's through these two things that the carriers control their app stores.
Fastforward to today, and what you'll see is what was happening in the early days of the GetItNow/MediaMall. A few amatures are getting rich and the big guys have to slug it out with every nerd in his or her basement...The lesson, however, is that it won't always be this way. So make you're money, corner your market, and build your start up right now. The market is, in my humble opinion, stabilizing away from the basement programmer and back to the big guys.... The days of fart apps at #1 are passing, but that doesn't mean you can't make money on it in the mean time.