[rossjudson]

Sounds like AppGratis showed apps in a way that was completely different from the App Store. The App Store provides an immense pile of crap, which is in front of another immense pile of crap, and...repeat. You get the idea.

AppGratis shows a small number of apps each day and says here -- look at these -- I think they are good.

Some subset gets there because the developer pays, but my impression is that most do not.

Users wouldn't keep looking at AppGratis if everything was crap. There's a balance to be had.

On 5.6 -- if AppGratis sends ONE notification each day that says "new things to look at", is that advertising, promotion, or direct marketing? How is that different from any other news item push?

I think Apple was disturbed by the effect AppGratis could have on their charting system.