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 ther

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.