Interesting! Do you know what the "per device" was? Was that device with the Objective-C compiler installed? Device that shipped with the Objective-C runtime?
If it was device with the runtime, I imagine we'd have seen a rewritten "modern" runtime a few years earlier than we did.
I've found the video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adI6-liGXqE, he said something along the lines of "five dollars [not fifty cents] per device running Objective-C", that make me think he meant the runtime.
I don't necessarily agree that the result would have been a rewritten runtime, just because the NeXT runtime (and compiler based on gcc) already was their own code so the licence must have been for "IP" in broader terms. Remembering that Apple were very heavily into Java around the time of the NeXT integration (https://www.sicpers.info/2020/07/so-whats-the-plan-part-1-wh...), I imagine that they would have gone more heavily in Java's direction.
If it was device with the runtime, I imagine we'd have seen a rewritten "modern" runtime a few years earlier than we did.