Ironically, I actually think a more open platform could increase privacy significantly. On a Mac, you can install Little Snitch to carefully monitor connections into and out of your phone. Security researchers also have the ability to probe apps as they see fit. Not on the iPhone.

The iPhones's closed nature also prevents security researchers from sufficiently examining third party apps for vulnerabilities.

That's all well and good, despite doing little to address my point, but you seem to be dodging the question of why you don't just go buy an Android phone. You don't like how the guy at the local convenience store treats you? Pound sand and go down the block to the other one. You have yet to explain why you don't do the same with phones. I happen to like the way iOS works in the this respect, and you sound like someone that just moved into the neighborhood complaining things that have been that way for the last 20 years.

Quite frankly, the primary reason I can't switch to Android is iMessage, which is used by my family and coworkers. (I also greatly prefer iOS's UI and touch response time.)

My current, personal solution is a Jailbroken iPhone, which I'm very happy with. But, I'm getting tired of worrying about what happens if my phone breaks and I can't get a new one on an exploitable firmware. I wish Apple would stop fighting to make this impossible. Build in a switch to unlock the bootloader or what have you, and nothing will change for the rest of the user base.

> You sound like someone that just moved into the neighborhood complaining things that have been that way for the last 20 years.

Is Comcast not a monopoly because you have the option to move to a different city?

If the only neighborhood with good jobs and a good school also prevented me from buying my own furniture, I'd complain.