They might as well put $10,000 instead $1,000 and it wouldn't change things much - most people interested in the board won't buy it as the price is prohibitive. They would have to go below $100 at the very least.
Data point of 1: I just purchased an early-access dev board ($1,250), but I wouldn't have at $10k. $1k is too expensive for most individual hobbyists, unfortunately, but cheap enough that it can be considered a petty cash expense in my employer's hardware R&D effort. I think it was perfectly priced.