As someone who is also new to mobile ad buying, I understand your frustration. While cheap clicks through glitches are always great, it would be nice to know that you could win with your smarts and following the right approach.
Well, I can attest that I have been running profitable (albeit small in size) campaigns paying a "legitimate" CPC from the self serve networks. What has helped me tremendously is the relationships I am developing with reps at the networks. This has resulted in being provided with insights that have helped me bid quite competitively while still getting traffic. Although the constant flow of information can make it difficult to stay organized, don't lose sight of the manifesto's key advice: Reach out and develop relationships at the networks. This really works.
Another key piece of the puzzle that should help mitigate your concern on "glitches" (it did for me) was Ryan's article the other day on traffic sources. I strongly suggest you read it here: http://www.imgrind.com/forum/showthr...0782#post30782.
I found this article really put things together for me on affiliate marketing as a whole, although I still need to learn more about how to use hooks and angles.
I hope this helps. I feel your frustration with getting this right, but I know if I keep plugging away at it, it will come together. It has for others, and there is no reason, with tons of hard work, that it shouldn't for us.