alt Hacker NewsWow it changed a lot since the last time I did it. I wonder it if has to do with the type of app or permissions it requests. Back then(10 years ago so way back then), payment was all that was required. You had to wait for some automated reviews and tests and potentially a manual one which could flag issues depending on the permissions you request but it was straight forward. Apple, on the other hand, always had a manual review and was quite strict in what they would accept.
It is a requirement for all apps (my app just uses the most basic permissions for internet access and nothing else) if it is the first listing a new developer account is putting up on the store.
I think Google did it this way to put some sort of filter on the amount of submissions without having to spend much time manually reviewing everything, foisting things on to the developer.