I've seen this question asked many times online in different guises and when I have found responses they generally require the spending of money. As this involves Apple products I can easily believe that this is the only way, but before I shell out money I thought I'd ask.
I am using PhoneGap Build, I have put together an application and began the process of getting this put up on the App Store.
I went and purchased the cheapest Apple computer I could that met the requirements of making apps for iOS (an old Mac Mini, Intel based, Snow Leopard OS) Now I've been through the rigmarole of setting up development keys and UDID numbers and testing and perfecting, then I went through further rigmarole to get a distribution key. All done. I've submitted my app to iTunes and I am currently at the "Waiting for Upload" phase of the process. The last step, the very last inch is to use xCode and Application Loader to upload the binary to iTunes. As it turns out Application Loader only works on OS X Lion and above. There has been talk that I can use the Product -> Archive and upload a binary from there in xCode 4.2 for Snow Leopard, however there does not appear to be a way to upload an .ipa (from PhoneGap Build) into xCode.
Solutions I have seen are in order of most frequently referenced: Upgrade to Lion (this doesn't work for me as my computer is not compatible)
Buy a new computer (seriously)
Buy an external Hard Drive, load 10.7 Lion onto it, boot from the hard drive and use Application Loader
Use macinthecloud.com
Before dropping money on a solution am I missing a free solution?
While not surprising the answer to this question is no. No you do not get anything for free when it comes to Apple. For cheapest PhoneGap development environment you should at least get OS X Lion.
My ultimate solution was to use www.macinthecloud.com, however I believe that there are alternative solutions to remote using mac machines via remote access.