Of course early price drops like these let me think about buying games for $5 or $10. I don't mind "wasting" $1 (or $5-$10/month all apps combined), but I would care about losing $4-$9 for a single app within a few days or weeks.

As for the sales strategy, developers risk their apps dropping off the top50 radar if they don't have regular sales and strong reviews to bump them back in. Once in top50, then there becomes a steady stream of buyers. More and more apps are being released, and its getting harder to stay in the top50. How often does anyone casually browse the App Store beyond the top50? 10,000apps and only the top50 get noticed.

There needs to be a better way of browsing apps on the App Store and iTunes in general in order to negate this Sale-after-afew-days tactic.

I'm all for the cheap apps, but it is upsetting when you pay for one only to have it drop to virtually nothing a week later.

Still, I've taken up the offer of Dr. Awesome, Topple and Dropship. Dr Awesome is becoming a bit Dr.Boring for my liking. Dropship is cool, like a new-school Thrust and Topple is just soooo frustrating that it makes me want to throw my phone through the window. I keeps coming back though!

A grocery store and the app store are to different chains of marketing to the point of incomparison

You can't return an app, or get a refund, or even buy it back after a refund.

I truly see your point however in this instance it's totally misplaced.

I think we're talking about all apps not just the cheaper ones that do this far to often.
Of course when I bought a mac air I knew the next summer the gig size would go up, but thats a year versus a week. Not saying apps should take a year but they should know that a week isn't a fair amount of time for initial purchasers to not feel bad about not waiting that week when they didn't know anything about the drop.
You think we all said "oh it's dropping in a week but I don't care I need it now"

It's simply a sale. Products go on sale all the time. Every time you go to the grocery store something different is on sale. It's an incentive to get you into the store, draw attention to other products, etc. It's not a mysterious process :-p

The amount you–and I–failed to save by missing this sale is… one dollar.

I'm tormented, but life goes on ;-D

If I wasn't sure the game was worth $2 to me then I shouldn't have bought it. I'd be happy to have waited and paid only $1, but it WAS worth $2–or more–to me. We are talking tiny amounts of money compared to what I throw away on things I don't need to have/eat every week.