But this article describes "deployment rights", which one would apparently not have access to if using the open source version. A quick google revealed no additional information on this.
Does anyone have any concrete info on deploying mobile Qt apps to app stores with the open source version?
GPL is disallowed for similar reasons, no way for the end user to recompile and app from the app store and run it on their device.
How is this in violation of the GPL?
The plain GPL is usually said to be unusable on the App Store because it has a clause that "no further restrictions" may be made on the use of the software; that may be fine with you, but when Apple redistributes your app through the App Store, they do it with a EULA that prohibits a wide range of things, so, as the argument goes, such redistribution violates the license. The LGPL does not have such a clause, so it's OK. (It does have a clause that prohibits further restrictions on reverse engineering, but the iTunes terms of use have an explicit exemption to the general reverse engineering ban based on "licensing terms governing use of any open-sourced components".)
I have an early prototype in Qt that's not going to be a big bread winner, but it'd be nice to be able to release it and get some feedback (even if that means that they have to install the shared Qt package too). I'd probably just bail on the idea if I had to pay much of anything, especially monthly.