At the moment it's singleplayer-only, and I can't imagine ever making it (ick) freemium. I didn't write Distant Star to make tons of money; I wrote it because there aren't nearly enough 4X games out there for iOS.
Sounds good. There are a couple of good 4x games, but really not that much selection. And I can't think of any decent ones that were designed specifically for the platform.
\o/ It's out! Distant Star is now a universal app for iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. A massive thanks to the Touch Arcade folks (Arcadians?) who helped me out with the iPhone testing -- promo codes are incoming, as a tiny token of my incredible appreciation.