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Apple using protected ePub is still better than them using completely proprietary format.
Take for example Topaz, which doesn't contain the text inside it at all, it contains a series or small (often letter-sized) scan fragments, and instructions where to draw each scan fragment on the screen. Try to convert something like that to text now - doesn't matter if it's protected or not. It needs a whole new renderer.
On the other hand, ePub is ePub, and whether it's protected by Adobe DRM, Apple DRM or B&N DRM, deep inside the operating system, once it's unprotected, it's all the same standard text. Single renderer can be used to display all three of them, once they have been unprotected. That means that an ePub renderer has been made by Apple for iPad, and it's very likely that they will use the same renderer to display unprotected ePubs, and that it will become a reference renderer all publishers will format their books to look good in.
This is the one standard, that will simplify e-books algorithms and production methods a lot - even if it doesn't make e-books free.
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