Hard to believe $99 is a serious obstacle when you need a computer (a Mac most likely) to participate in the iOS developer economy.

And people who cannot afford the greens fees can't participate in the Golf economy.

The world isn't fair, and Apple isn't obliged to give away their stuff for free.

If you can't afford $99/year, then you can't afford the substantial time investment required to learn Objective C / Swift, write an app, submit it, support it, and maintain it.