How would you feel if your ISPs started wanting a cut of all money you made via the internet?

After all, it's their house so their rules...

Apple have carved out a significant market share of mobile users. They've locked down the OS so you can't install your own apps on it and they've crippled the browser so you can't build nice web apps. For businesses like Netflix, Spotify and Epic who's userbases arguably transcend the App Store, why should they pay the Apple Tax?

Apple doesn't "own" these users. But if you want to extend your services to them you have to pony up.

I don't expect to use my ISP's infrastructure for free. However most of that infrastructure was built using tax payer's money, on tax payer's land with special privileges granted by the government, and special tax incentives for improvements. In return we, the people, demand certain concessions and rules to compensate us. I'm actually in the UK, but the situation on this here and in the US are different in many details but in broad strokes are equivalent.

The iOS operating system, developer tools, platform libraries and the App Store and distribution system are all Apple products built by them on their own dime and at their own commercial risk. On what basis do you get to dictate to them what features they must or must not develop, what services they must be coerced to provide and what contractual relationships they are required to enter into? There's just no basis for that.

Fair enough but Apple and Google have essentially built out the entire mobile digital ecosystem. While I can empathise with the mindset that they should reap the benefits of investing and nurturing the platforms, they are also for all intents and purposes a duopoly so I am in favour of that control being wrested back into the hands of consumers and the relationship being renegotiated - the distribution platform of mobile software feels more like a public good than a private ecosystem given the way we depend on it

Maybe we just tell apple they can do what they want as long as their devices don't connect to the public cellular networks.

Ive explained why Apple's system is their product and therefore their property, and Ive explained why ISPs are a different case. I'm not seeing any attempt at all to seriously, coherently provide a credible counter argument that makes any actual sense.

Radio stations used to sell cheep AM radios that were only tuned to their station and the government outlawed them.