I am not convinced the approval process is 'evil'. Capricious? yes. Opaque? You bet. But not evil. They have made some dumb decisions that are getting a good amount of press coverage in tech circles, but the general iPhone user doesn't care about most of that.
I also don't think the article's author made a good case for iPhone development being as bad as gambling. Writing software for any platform can look like a crap-shoot from the outside. But success depends on a good product and a market to be served. Many of the iPhone apps are neither so that makes it more difficult to determine what the chances of success are.
I think that iPhone development has a higher chance of success than for any other current platform. You have a audience that is willing to spend disposable income, and a place where they can easily find apps to serve their needs.
You misunderstood the comparison with gambling. It's obvious bad software usually isn't gonna be too successful, no matter the platform and its policies. But the way Apple is letting you know only AFTER you are done with development whether you'll be even allowed (!) to sell it, that is definitely NOT the conventional risk you take when you decide to develop an application or not. And there are numerous hints at Apple not approving an application citing a certain policy that is in no way related to the actual reason for not approving the app. A developer is, by definition, unable to make 100% sure that his app will be approved by Apple. _That_ is the actual reference to gambling.
You can say a similar thing when government legislates your business as illegal. Large amount of regulators can be very opaque, and you only find out after the fact a month or two after you've started business.
I also don't think the article's author made a good case for iPhone development being as bad as gambling. Writing software for any platform can look like a crap-shoot from the outside. But success depends on a good product and a market to be served. Many of the iPhone apps are neither so that makes it more difficult to determine what the chances of success are.
I think that iPhone development has a higher chance of success than for any other current platform. You have a audience that is willing to spend disposable income, and a place where they can easily find apps to serve their needs.