Tell HN: I think the App Store is completely corrupt
Most of the 5-star reviews you read on the App Store are fabricated. It's pervasive, every successful app does it, and you basically need to assemble a review posse to compete at all.
In the end, the good apps filter to the top, because even though you can arrange good reviews, once you start selling apps fast enough you will get bad reviews that will drive you back down.
But still, you need to rustle up or manufacture reviews on each release to get in the game. You can immediately increase sales by doing so, and so everyone does it.
The result is a competition that encourages dishonesty, and people end up buying apps under false pretenses - because everyone doesn't know the 5-star reviews are all fake. I think Apple needs to take some steps to clean this up.
Obviously, Apple doesn't care about this today. You can tell because there are no controls or anti-gaming technologies in play here. Also, Apple has no interest in rooting out fake reviews (which increase sales temporarily, but on a regular basis, like a heartbeat).