>>rankings based on the standard "best seller" definition cannot be maniuplated
Why not?(I don't have an iPhone, so I really don't know anything about it.) It would be fairly easy to buy your own app. A $0.99 app and 30% fee to apple, you could buy your app 300 times a week for $90. If it is really that much of a hit driven market it might be worth it. Apple would love it(cash and being able to claim the next billion sold that much faster.)
Why do you say it is stupid ? Shouldn't a "best selling list" be created based on the definition of a "best selling list" ?
Btw rankings based on the standard "best seller" definition cannot be maniuplated the way that rankings based on "ratings" can be manipulated.
imo Apple's current ranking policy - ranking by best-seller-list and also ranking by most-revenue-earned (i.e. the top grossing list) - is good.