Ah. So it's not "you can create an alternative app store for the devices that customers and not Apple owns", but you can create an entire new hardware stack on which to run applications, and then put an app store on that.

Compelling.

Well, it is quite compelling. You want to single out Apple but ignore how this has been going on since, well, almost the dawn of time.

There are plenty of phone manufacturers with different operating systems. If you don’t like using Apple’s App Store you are perfectly free to use other hardware and software combinations as you see fit to purchase that are available on the market.

There are plenty of hardware manufacturers that are free to spend as much money as they want to build phones, spend money to build operating systems, and then do whatever they want with those systems. So yes, create your own hardware stack on which to put applications and then put an App Store on that. Apple had the foresight to do so and create market value, nothing is stopping Samsung, HTC, Huawei, Google, or others from doing so. Nothing.

There are plenty of phone manufacturers with different operating systems on which you cannot distribute software outside of their approved method? Gosh, I didn't know that, but y'know, I'm OK with hitting them with the hammer, too.

And the fun part is this: I made my first post in this thread having in the past said that I really didn't mind the status quo but you've successfully convinced me that that hammer should be swung at them as hard as it possibly can be.

Opposite for me. The more people complain about Apple on hacker news or elsewhere because they aren’t making enough money and have to play by the App Store rules the more I know it’s the right thing and the more likely I am to buy an iPhone or new Mac. Especially because the arguments are so inconsistent and just come from generic mindshare. People don’t think. Apple Big! Apple bad! Conveniently ignoring that their business practices bring benefits to customers, they have extremely high brand loyalty and approvals, and are making money because people buy iPhones precisely because of the opposite reasons that you espouse here.

I don’t get it. If you hate the iPhone and apple App Store philosophy why can’t you just buy a different phone? Put your money where your mouth is. Apple and the App Store suck? Prove it with your purchases. Don’t sit here and complain about a “monopoly” that makes developers a shit load of money.

Ok how about this. If developers want a different store, they can all pay a fee to Apple to continue to develop new hardware and provide updates for iOS. Sounds fair to me.

You don't even need to compare Apple to other OEMs. Compare Apple to itself. On macOS, despite increasingly more stringent security policies, you are free to install apps and software outside of the App Store. Why should iOS be different? Why the inconsistency across Apple's own platforms? Is iOS somehow less secure than desktop and must only go through the App Store?

Because one is a phone and the other is a computer? Or maybe because people want the two devices to be treated differently? Why would they be the same? I can’t install whatever I want on my Sony TV or my car. Why does an iPhone specifically have to do this?

Smartphones are much more advanced computing devices than televisions or cars, to the point that they are a government-subsidized good for low-income citizens that was only recently ended by Ajit Pai (the Lifeline program). Perhaps modern basic necessities shouldn't be locked?

Also, as others in this thread have pointed out, there's nothing saying that game consoles should be special and should be subject to digital locks. By the same token, perhaps there should be nothing preventing smart TVs and cars from being locked as well.

It’s easier to jailbreak than complain.

Non sequitur. That doesn’t explain any of the inconsistencies.

Don't forget that if you do such a thing you forfeit the ability to use the google play services which make up about 50% of what people consider an android phone to be.

Google does not allow you to have an alternative store preinstalled.