@bramblett05: I don't think so, no.
That is, the "evilness" of the MLP app was that there was a story and a definitive way to "win" the game, and the only way to "win" is to spend either assloads of money or years of your time. Being
forced to spend money to "win" (vs. "winning faster") is evil. Even more so when some of the Mane Six
require IAP.
LPS doesn't really have a story - it's basically "oh crap, we've got lots of pets, so let's make a city for them!" Storywise, it's about as involved as the least interesting city builder sims out there (or, if you know Happy Street, it's Like That) - clearly, the goal of the game is the cuteness and collecting factors. There is certainly IAP, and the most expensive pet is 1500 points, which is about $75.00. But, unlike the "ZOMG, NEED PRINCESS CELESTIA!", there's no real rationale or fan-madness behind the purchase, so it devolves into any other IAP: a useless geegaw that doesn't really
mean anything.
There is something else interesting, though, which I'm actually looking forward to (as a general fan of LPS). Starting early next year, you'll apparently be able to buy (real) LPS toys that includes tokens you can scan into the app (sorry iPad 1 users, namely, my two young daughters) to unlock the toys in-game. There appears to be 137 tokens available. See
http://gameloft.com/lps for the early docs on that.