I guess I just don't understand the Apple mentality in general that removing my choices and capabilities is better for me somehow.
Nonetheless, Apple would (rightly) want to ensure that this doesn't happen, since all the duplicates provide negative value, crowding out the competition, harming discoverability. On their own each of them would provide value, the problem is in duplication.
For the legitimate template apps described in article this should be ok as users are likely dedicated and can find the link to app for example via website.
Apple wants to have absolute control of what users are allowed to install on their own devices. Maybe that's justifiable as a way to avoid malware, and maybe it's also reasonable to extend the "evilness" check to cover apps which would drain the battery or interfere with other apps.
Apple also entirely reasonably wants quality control on what apps they're willing to advertise on their "store front".
But I think there's no justification for using the "store front" quality bar to block what users are allowed to install. If an individual or organisation is willing to pay to have an app developed for their own customers/staff/associates/family/whatever, Apple shouldn't be applying more than the "evilness" check before they permit people to install it.
(Alternatively Apple could agree to sign apps which pass the "evilness check" without hosting them, but they'd probably want to be able to remove them if they spot malware later rather than relying on some kind of certificate revocation. They could charge a reasonable fee to cover review and hosting costs.)
Ideally, yeah. The ongoing arms race between apple and review farmers makes that signal less likely to work.
As template builders get more and more streamlined, we’re getting to the point where people are essentially submitting their webpages to the app store.
Judging by the number of obviously fake reviews on app stores, i don't think they want to bet on this.
It'd be nice if that was true, but a few days using either Apple's or Google's app stores proves otherwise.
Because bad actors will game that system to eliminate their competition.