It's a long article. Quick summary: NDA is gone, but for the App Store you still can't trust Apple in the sense that you need to trust a ladder before you'd climb it. It's not unreasonable to insist that Apple write down some rules and stick to them regarding accepting applications for the App Store.
Just because the concepts are sound, how do you know the ladder was well-constructed, doesn't have any damage that might weaken its structure, etc? You need to trust the company that built the ladder to make quality ladders, and you need to trust the individual ladder to not have any major faults.
