Wesnoth struggles with App Store's GPL incompatibilities

For what it is worth, at least for the time being, you can install non-market apps on AT&T's android devices through the adb shell without any hacking or rooting.

A very valid point, but it is worth considering the historical progression that you seem to be missing despite the road blocks:

All phones completely locked down -> some phones partially open -> some phones very open.

This is major progress in my book. Naturally, it does not mean that your concerns are invalid, but simply that I perceive the phone ecosystem as a whole as becoming more open, not less.

That being the case, I don't wee why GPL developers (and anyone else wanting to control distribution of their apps) would not pressure Apple to remove that silly inherent copy restriction, since it has nothing to do with their software that they (Apple) wrote, and it hardly seems vital to their business model. There are very good reasons for other non GPL devs to not like this policy and they should make apple aware of their concerns before simply assuming that Apple will never change. After all, I would not assume that Apple is not very scared of the real android threat to their current bread and butter (they would be stupid not to be, and they are not stupid). If lifting this simple restriction means that apple can appease a lot more users and devs, and fight off android a bit longer, why wouldn't they?

On a final note, it seems ironic that a game might actually be free software's killer app (the one over which this battle is fought) for the iphone! :)

The mistake here IMO is allowing the GPL application into the walled garden. Sure it grants exposure and might make the developers some cash to spend on the project but the draconian EULA, the client restrictions and the locked down OS are all exactly what FOSS has been striving against.

All we do by allowing GPL software to have an exception for the app store is to validate the Apple model, after all some future company can create an app store with even more draconian restrictions and they can be sure GPL software will get an "exception" right?

It's a very big mistake to allow this IMO. The future is an Open Android platform that has the same true user freedoms we've come to value in the PC space. Sure the carriers can try to lock down the phones, even using Android but we shouldn't give the weight of the FOSS advantage to anyone that restricts FOSS and specifically writes their EULA to exclude FOSS (it's no question in my mind that Apple wrote their developer agreement to exclude FOSS). All we do is validate the broken software model and restrictive usage agreements by giving exceptions.

There is an all out war on FOSS ideals being waged by companies that themselves use FOSS and we can't be giving ground or exceptions to the GPL or we risk destroying our own community. Maybe that's alarmist but I just don't think validating these restrictions is in the long term interest of the community.