My point was not that the lists are the exact same thing as search results, my point is that users don't care about the tiny details of whether a particular app is #7 or #8.
If you conducted a survey of App Store users and asked them to give you the numerical rank of a given app ("was it 8 or 9?"), I would surprised if many could remember, and shocked if any cared.
Why do users view those lists? As you point out, to browse for new apps. The precise numerical ranking does not help them very much to do that; therefore a user-centered design process should not care very much about how precisely accurate the displayed rankings are.
Edit to add: Users have no way to independently verify rankings anyway, so the concept of a "false" shift from 9 to 8 has no meaning to them. They don't know what's false, only what's useful.
If you conducted a survey of App Store users and asked them to give you the numerical rank of a given app ("was it 8 or 9?"), I would surprised if many could remember, and shocked if any cared.
Why do users view those lists? As you point out, to browse for new apps. The precise numerical ranking does not help them very much to do that; therefore a user-centered design process should not care very much about how precisely accurate the displayed rankings are.
Edit to add: Users have no way to independently verify rankings anyway, so the concept of a "false" shift from 9 to 8 has no meaning to them. They don't know what's false, only what's useful.