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Comment by lowdose | Hacker News Reader

> Mac prices are the gatekeeper for the Apple dev ecosystem in the developing world or students from low income background

Isn't the yearly $199 developers fee a greater gatekeeper by design for people with a low income from participating in Apples ecosystem?

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It's $99 and it's not a gatekeeper to anything. People who need the developer program subscription easily make multiple of it each month even in the poorest countries. You only need it if you are going to distribute apps through Apple AppStore, you don't need it for anything else.

But you need the $99 before you can make the money in the App Store.

That's true. You will also need a computer, a chair, a desk and food to learn and develop apps.

AppStore Developer subscription is not a social security program, you will need some capital to run business on it.

It is like the need to spent money to buy the flour and the chocolate before making money from your first donuts. Standart business stuff.

I have bought a computer, I have now bought a chair. I don't need to buy a new computer or a new chair if my development takes longer than a year.

I don't know what you mean about a social security system, I don't think anyone is talking about that so it's a bit nonsense.

The point is it is a gatekeeper. Your first app that you build doesn't make $115? Then you didn't break even and you are down, and are taxed another $100. Considering that Apple then billing you 15% on your takings, it is another bar to clear.

It's hard to follow this thought process. Somehow you claim that you are entitled to do business on one company's systems on terms that you decide. This doesn't make any sense what so ever. It sounds like those people who think they should own all the movies, music or software for free because they pay for an internet connection.

If you don't like the business proposition, just don't do business with Apple. Go make apps for Google Play store or Huawei or anything else.

Yes, you need to pay the $99 to have a registered developer account, which is required to digitally sign apps to distribute through the App Store. Of course, you can download and use the dev tools for free, and distribute/sell your apps any way you like, without paying Apple anything. So if the App Store isn't worth $99 as a sales channel, don't pay it.

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