Yes, all of the reasons certainly played a role in the rise of the indie game developer, but also it was the fact that gamers started to actually be interested in these sorts of games after being disillusioned with lots of major game studios. At least that's my opinion.
Great post! Would you mind if I included it in today's "best of gaming"?
I agree with your opinion. AAA market became stale with too many large developers just jumping on a trend, first with RTS games and then FPS games.
I wouldn't mind being included at all :) feel free to do so.