Sure you can argue that. But any App Promotion App is ultimately downloaded from the App Store originally, so I'd assume it's reasonably obvious. But even so, I don't think that Apple's adding a specific clause to their App guidelines due to the very small percentage of people who are downloaded App Discovery apps and then get confused.
If I had to guess at their motivation, it would be their attempt at blocking paid-for-promotion schemes that try to game the App Store ranking systems. I think that's more likely.
Totally agreed. I tried to get that across in the interview for the article. It's pretty hard to say that the pay-for-ranking firms help users, and I think Apple's just taking a first stab at combatting them. I think there's a lot more they can do to improve the ranking algorithm in helping to combat these firms.
As a user and as a developer, I really hope these changes help move some of the blatant junk off the Top Lists.
If I had to guess at their motivation, it would be their attempt at blocking paid-for-promotion schemes that try to game the App Store ranking systems. I think that's more likely.