They aren't advocating or supporting Apple, though. They are merely pointing out that in suchg a dire situation as the one we have now, Apple's interests partially align with consumer interests.

I think their tone makes it relatively clear that this is not a healthy state to be in!

What hyperbole! It's entirely possible for some process to be bad, and it still have (some) good consequences.

The Black Plague was terrible; but it lead to increased social mobility in the aftermath. Likewise, Apple's "one browser" policy is bad, but ironically it's the main thing stopping the other browser, Chrome, from becoming the one browser that dominates everything. I'm still against the one browser policy, as I am against the Black Plague, but a reasonable person can make these distinctions.

> abuses its customers

Apple customers are generally pretty happy with their hardware and software.

I view it more like the lesser of two evils. I don't like Apple's behaviour and I agree with a lot of the criticisms against their behaviour. That said, I think it's preferable to the alternative.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.