alt Hacker News> $200/month is already out of reach of the majority of the population.
1. You can build small applications with the $20/month sub, much more with the $100/month. Competition and technology improvements will inevitably improve the price to value ratio.
2. Cable sports subscriptions are in a similar price range. Expensive, but not exclusive to “the elites”.
The median per capita income in the United States is $37,683/year.[0] Depending on your state, after taxes, that's something like ~$2,600/month. You're asking almost 10% of their post-tax income to this just for the opportunity to create software. With rent, food, and other living expenses many households at that income level simply cannot afford this.
This is the median income. If it's a struggle for someone on this income then it's worse for half of all Americans, and American incomes are higher than most of the rest of the world.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Per_capita_personal_income_in_...