I see nothing wrong with Maidsafe creating an app or two as sources of income. It is not unheard of for research companies to put out a money-making product that funds their main research interest. And there is surely a multitude of possible apps, so why leave it all to non-Maidsafe app devs, who have already been given a free droplet sandbox.
If they, or we, can dream up a winning app, they could do a crowdsale of that and have an infusion of money in a short time.