Well, guess what Champski, they don't have any rights beyond choosing to develop before iOS. Once they do, they have to kiss up to Apple, end of story. Either that or sell their app through those jailbroken package managers (Apple may whine, but they can't really do anything about it). If they don't like that, they can get out. Sure, this attitude is pretty snobbish on Apple's (and Job's) part, but definitely not snake-like (which implies illegality or underhandedness). They have every right to design their platform however they want. If that happens to mean shutting out competition, that's fine too. Same goes for Microsoft.
If you don't like it, vote with your wallet. Choose not to buy Apple products. It does work, despite what some may say.