I've been playing around with the sdk for a couple of weeks and decided it's time to pay $99 for the developer program. I'm just wondering what happens after you sign up on apple.com and when I could actually test on my iphone.
when you pay the 99$ it means you can submit apps to apple, if you havent paid the 99$ you cant submit app
Once you complete that process, you'll get access to a Program Portal where you'll handle getting certificates to do code signing of your games. That'll let you put the games on your device for testing. You can also make certificates for distribution through the App Store or the ad-hoc distribution. In addition you get access to iTunes Connect which is the website you'll use to actually submit games to iTunes, manage your games (descriptions, screenshots, pricing, etc), and view all sales data. There are lots of nice help documents and walkthroughs, so it's pretty easy to find your way around in there. The first step is just paying the $99 and getting through the process of becoming a registered developer.
For me, registering as an LLC, it took about three or four weeks. You'll get an email when you're approved because you pay at the end. You'll get an email that links you to the Apple store and puts a $99 item into the cart. After I paid for that, it took about a day and I had access to all the goodies.