It's an open market, isn't it? You are free to start a competitor. Back in the day I tried Windows Phone. It failed because it sucked. That can probably be extrapolated to the rest of competitors.

Did WP actually suck, or did it suck because there were no apps on it?

Utility pricing is regulated because the barrier to entry and cost of switching for consumers is far too high to realistically expect competitors to enter.

Don't like your 1000/month gas bill? Well then you can sell your house and move to the neighborhood next door.

Same principle with the mobile market at this point.

Some states allow choosing the electricity provider separate from the utility providers themselves (creating a competitive market).

In the same way, we should be able to choose between competing implementations within the walls of the mobile platforms.

Absolute control of a platform that impacts a huge percentage of society will not be something that's accepted in the longer term

Fair enough, but the topic was whether Apple was charging too much. Are you suggesting that if Apple opened up their platform to additional app stores or allowed sideloading, the 15% or 30% would be fair?

Yes. Take Google for example with exactly this approach. You can elect to put your apps on the play store with commission, or you can put them somewhere else under other terms.

Stores can then actually compete on merit.

Yes.

See that's the thing about actual competition is a price can be determined by the market, especially in the case that you have many players rather than a duopoly. In my case Apple could charge whatever they wanted, 30%, fine. But me the app maker could go to the A+ store and pay 10% instead.

Is it not an open market? You don't have to buy an iPhone...