I disagree. $100/yr to put what might be a very simple little toy application is not worth it. Sure, that toy might inspire more, and it could even lead to a promising career, but it’s a stretch to argue it was worth it when it could just as easily never be utilized.
The promise of general purpose computing and open source as well is that it empowers all kinds of users.
Oh how badly I want to tweak little things about my iPhone, but can’t because the software is locked down.
Compared to the cost and power of any of the hardware and software we are talking about it is insignificant.
If you want to do toy programming on a budget there are a million arduino-like things out there.
I recently saw calculations on the price of say, just iOS alone. It being equivalent to multiple Manhattan projects. Regardless of how accurate that estimate is, the general point remains.
Do I think Apple should make developing for non-distribution on the iPhone free? Yes. Do I think there is an argument that is almost a moral obligation? Possibly.
But what you get for like 30 cents a day with a developer account is mind boggling. I mean, that was the initial point wasn’t it? These are insanely capable and meticulously engineered pieces of technology.
Edit:
I can even argue it is an ethical obligation that Apple should allow all users to install non App Store apps if they explicitly so choose. And I have argued that in the past.
But I separate this from the evaluation of the value proposition offered by an Apple Developer account.
What you are missing is that basically everyone needs a phone, not everyone needs an arduino. There is a fundamental difference between even 30¢ and free. Make developing free and suddenly you’ll have more developers.
Now it’s a whole other discussion of if that’s a good thing or not. But I personally like to believe that everyone should be able to develop as a hobbyist. The commercialization of software is often at odd with it’s users. Not so much when people are doing things for themselves and for fun.
It’s bad that they can gatekeep like this, I agree. I should just be able to put whatever on the hardware I buy.
But the expense in practical terms, immediate pragmatic terms, is negligible compared to what it unlocks.