It's a wonder I am still surviving.
If you didn't notice, you switched the conversation from "Apple iPhone" to "smartphone".
In any case, I didn't get an iPhone until 2012 and for the entire 7+ years of ownership, I have never installed a single app on it. I just use the plain vanilla functionality. An Apple product like the iPhone and the Apple curated App Store is not essential to life.
About 90% of my friends & family use Android (the more popular smartphones) because they cost less than Apple.
EDIT to downvoters:
- gp comment (rahkiin) of Walmart-restrictions analogy is about Apple (not "smartphones" in general)
- followup comment (jfk13) is also about Apple iPhone and not smartphones
- pentae's comment that switches the subject from "iPhone" to "smartphones" ... to try an win an argument just confuses the thread
It's not pedantic in this case because the raison d'etre of this thread is Apple's restrictions (including sideloading).
With that specific context, an "Apple iPhone" is not equivalent to "smartphone" and pentae's comment that mixes up the 2 is muddying up the discussion. The ability for 3rd party devs to sideload apps on my Apple iPhone is not essential to life.
If enough people want changes around how smartphones and smartphone platforms operate, we'll get new legislation for it, if it doesn't already exist.
To recap the context ...
- thread article title: "Dear _Apple_: Here’s How to Stop the Antitrust..."
The title is "Dear Apple", not "Dear all _smartphone_ manufacturers". The reason for this thread's existence is making a distinction between Apple vs smartphones. From the very beginning, our comments and replies have to continue that distinction for this particular thread.
- gp comment (rahkiin) continued that distinction of iPhone-vs-smartphones with the Walmart-restrictions analogy. I.e. "Walmart"="Apple" and presumably "Target/Amazon/GooglePixel/etc"="other non-Apple smartphones"
- followup comment (jfk13) continued that distinction of iPhone-vs-smartphones
- your reply (pentae) comment that switches the subject from "iPhone" to "smartphones" ... is a non-sequitur. It looks like you're trying to win an argument instead of replying to their specific point about Apple restrictions and developers having the ability to choose a different marketplace (e.g. the Android marketplace). The thread+rahkiin+jfk13 were talking about Apple iPhone and not all smartphones in general. You don't have to agree with rahkiin+jfk13 but your comment's switch to generalized "smartphone" isn't engaging with what they actually wrote.