You can get a free developer account that lets you develop and run your own programs since a couple of years.
I don’t know what you’re getting on about with ASICS, but I guess you may just need to accept being in a niche market segment.
Almost like Apple has probably evaluated the business case of an open ecosystem low margin low cost phone, and then immediately went back to printing money.
Of course, they're miserable little devices, but they are technically smartphones that technically run android.
I love the phrase "printing money". It's time proven. But it just occurred to me that it doesn't do Apple justice.
Apple's free cash flow for the trailing 12 months was $44.6 Billion. That's 446 million $100 banknotes. How many printing presses does it take to print that many bills? How many sheets of cotton/linen paper?
Apple's financial numbers are astounding.
Would I be happier if I could get a phone with the equivalent of BIOS and nothing else and vet and install my own software? You bet. If nothing else, I'd not have to install all those Play ____ apps I never use. But given the choices available, Apple is a bad one.