For which a customer spends hundreds of dollars, comparable to purchasing a game console that took cartridges. Apple doesn't provide that, buyers provide that. Apple is trying use their leverage to dominate every angle of the action. Surprise, surprise, surpriiiiise.
I wouldn’t be so sure. How many man hours go into developing ARKit, Foundation, Swift etc.? How many developer accounts would be required to fund all of that plus the R&D for the ideas that didn’t work out?
I think the $99 is more of a filter, like a captcha, for developers that mean business.