At least for me as a consumer, Apple’s behaviour is a feature I pay extra for, not a bug.

Apple's behavior is superfluous to marketplaces and your security. That's why they can promise security on macOS even though Steam is allowing users to buy and install games outside of the Mac app store. They even allow random unsigned software to be downloaded and installed without thwarting their security.

You pay extra for not being able to install apps outside of Apple Store?

Or more specifically, you pay extra so others couldn't do it on their phones (because you as I understand wouldn't, but you don't want others to be able to)?

I’m having a hard time phrasing this, but I also fall in the camp that views it as positive.

The gist is this: there is no app maker that can say “screw that” to Apple’s privacy/security rules and bypass them. As such I will never be in a position to choose between my privacy and using the app. By Apple’s removing the possibility of that choice, I get both.

Thats fine. They can have a locked-down by default setting that you can pay extra for. The rest of us would like an open store.

There have been numerous examples of apps in the App Store that have malicious behavior.

So, with Apple, pick none I guess?

Arguing that the safety of the Apple App store is equivalent to that of the Google Play Store, or any of the other Android markets (which are far worse), is pretty nonsensical.

Numerous suggests you can still count them, which is an incalculable win against any other platform.

Chromebooks are a great example of secure + customer friendly by default, with an option to go into very open mode.

(activate developer mode by proving physical control — in the past it was a screw, now it's sitting through a few minutes of pressing the power button when asked; from dev mode you can go further and flash custom CPU and EC firmware)

The market is big enough that you will see good quality competitors. Just think how the PC market would look like if it was closed to Microsoft.

Many times on the Internet I've read, that you can't really get security without openness. Both in software and in organisations.