It's a real shame that Xamarin has a such a prohibitive pricing structure. My employer would love for me to use this on projects but they simply won't pay that much for a tool EACH YEAR. Considering Visual Studio, if you actually pay for it and don't go to an event and get a free copy, is a one time cost that a company can semi-easily justify (we've been on VS2010 for over 4 years now, with 5 developers, that's a maj…
You do own the software forever. It doesn't expire after a year; you just will no longer have access to new releases and support. It's their last FAQ item on the pricing page. It does seem a bit odd to hide that detail on the very bottom of the page. I have other development tools (JetBrains products) that having similar pricing models without signing up for a "subscription" and with a discount for renewing each year…
To compare that with the JetBrains business model. I can get a personal license for IntelliJ IDEA for $200, and there's even a free open source version that does 95% of the things I want with no limits. Their other products also have fully unrestricted 30 day trial periods.
I guess Xamarin isn't targeting indie developers or hobbyists in that field. Which is OK. But it feels a little insulting to have an "indie" license which is so prohibitive and at the same time expensive.