My sense is that Apple and Google don't really care to have small entrants into their app stores at this point. (I've jumped through all the same hoops and more.) They know they hold all the cards for now, and aren't under a lot of pressure to improve or simplify their current processes.
Not sure if there's anything to be done about it outside of legislation.
Do people at Apple consider this a great experience?
The Apple developer program is not a consumer product. B2B is rarely simple because business is complex. The developer program does not make business sense for many businesses.