High cost of developing for Apple

You could say that I am biased because I do all my daily development work on a Windows machine and use a lot of Google tools.  But I've been very frustrated by how much money it costs to develop a phone app for Apple platforms.

First of all, you HAVE to have an Apple computer to develop for the Apple platform.  The converse is not true for Android, you can develop for Android using a Mac.  But Apple forces you to have an Apple computer in order to produce a testing profile through their development environment, XCode.  So when I wanted to develop Monster Cache for iOS, I had to go buy an Apple computer that ran a certain version of  XCode, which translated to needing OS X 10.7 (Lion).  So I got a used iMac for about $400.

Next cost is the fee for a developer account.  For a Google Play developer account, there is a one-time fee of $25.  For Apple, its a YEARLY fee of $100.  I just had to pay for my second year.

After paying for both of those, I was able to develop Monster Cache for iOS and make updates for a little over a year.  Then iOS 7 came out.  Developing for iOS 7 requires the latest version of XCode, XCode 5.  XCode 5 requires that your Mac's operating system be at least OS X 10.8 (Mountain Lion).  Apple no longer distributes version 10.8, so if you want to upgrade through the App Store, then you have to upgrade to OS X 10.9 (Mavericks).  Of course, my older iMac does not support 10.9.  So I will have to buy another Mac, which means another few hundred dollars.

The last Apple-specific cost I've been seeing is far less significant, and may not even be Apple's fault exactly, but its just a little salt in the wound.  When people make In App Purchases, Google and Apple transfer the money to my bank account at the end of the month.  Apparently, Google's transfer is a domestic one, but Apple's is an international transfer.  My bank charges me $3.50 for each monthly transfer that Apple makes to my account.