I can't seem to find the article "Losing iReligion" on the Iconfactory blog -- but if the implication is true -- that Iconfactory is claiming their lack of success is a fault of the appstore -- thats a pretty ridiculous implication...for exactly the reason you point out here (and is the focus of the article).

What we think is good marketing (what the iconfactory has done), isn't just good per-se. What makes it good is its effectiveness...and by that metric. Ineffective marketing <> a bad AppStore.