Isn't this a little like criticising an experienced photographer for not following the "Rule of Thirds"? This is even less of a case, because they are "Guidelines" not even "Rules" or "Requirements". Just because they don't follow them to the letter all of the time doesn't mean they aren't a good idea in general.
It seems to be another case of: Apple story is non-story.
Indeed. It's hardly news, anyway; Apple violates their own HIG all the time (cf. brushed metal theme and iTunes zoom button). There's a reason they're called "guidelines".
Personally, I think it's a valid point. The icon in question definitely seems less professional and (ahem) iconic than the well-known TextEdit icon. Even without the Greeked text, the perspective, shading and typography are all awkward.
Apple has been criticized about this for ages, and I think the criticism is generally a bit more nuanced than you let on: the complaint is that "modern" (post-OSX) Apple often goes way beyond simply showing good judgment and breaking the rules when it helps the interface, and many times strays into simple self-indulgence, making things prettier and shinier at the cost of usability.
[I don't use Apple products enough to say whether this is really true, and as an outside observer, I rather like the pretty-shiny. But that is the criticism.]
The whole graphic just isn't nice. Each line is laid out a little bit to the left of the line above it to give the illusion of the text flowing with the page, but the characters aren't transformed at all so it just looks ... bad. And then there's the weird shadow that looks more like a slot that the pages are being stuffed into. Yuck.
But, then, their developer pages have always been very hit or miss graphically. (Not to mention functionally!)
Anyway, kinda dumb headline but, yeah, really bad graphic.
It seems to be another case of: Apple story is non-story.