I see the developer fee as just a barrier to entry to submit apps to the marketing place - kinda just to stop the riff-raff. I suspect it also is linked to the the legal agreement as some type of consideration.
Although I agree with the point made here, Apple probably wouldn't have a gajillion if they weren't charging developers (not the only income, I know).<p>"Palace is made of bricks" we like to say.
What's the point? Either pay the $100, or don't.<p>How much cash money Apple has is orthogonal to how the developer program is structured. Maybe the $100 fee has benefits for gatekeeping purposes, but that's a separate evaluation and discussion.<p>I'm not an iOS dev, and anything I would do on mobile would be Android first, so I don't have any reason to try to defend Apple here.
More than anything, I think the intention behind the developer fee is to act as an additional buffer against low-quality developers. Personally, I have no objection to it. If you're serious about putting time into developing for Apple, $100 bucks isn't really all that big a deal. Furthermore, 30% isn't a bad deal either considering that Apple is providing you with a large platform for distribution as well as potential exposure.
They would have less than a gajillion dollars if they let any robo-scambucket inject malicious and worthless products into their many Gardens of Algorithmic Delight.<p>Access to a quarter billion users with one-click credit cards is either worth $100 to you or it isn't.
Translation:<p>'Wah wah. Mommy won't let me eat cake! but me like CAKKKEE SO MUCH! Mommy mean! Mommy have so much cake not let me have any. Stupid Mommy.'