Why do you need to ban other people from buying them? You can already just opt to not buy them yourself. Why do you care if others still want to?

Clearly not signed everyone - I don’t sign it.

Lol we’re well past that.

If you’re willing to ban the NFA/legalize probate nuclear weapons we might be able to talk.

In the mean time I suspect you support at least some level of collective restriction, and that means banning companies from selling locked hardware is fair game.

> I suspect you support at least some level of collective restriction

Locked mobile phones don’t hurt people other than the people who choose to use them. That’s different to for example a gun.

The only reason to ban iPhones is because you know other people like them as they are and you’re in a minority! You want to enforce a minority opinion on others. That’s morally wrong.

Your comment still doesn't answer the question "Why do you need to ban other people from buying them?"

I think it's a good question that deserves an answer.

Because it's anti-competitive. Society is advanced when companies have to compete and not just collect taxes from other companies who are trying to do something.

The Apple tax is not advancing anything. It's just a stranglehold on innovation promoted with FUD about how running programs is insecure despite the fact that this isn't applied to desktop/laptop computers.

Apple providing a more secure phone is an innovation and advancement. If the iPhone isn’t the right choice for you buy one of the other thousand phones on the market.

If it's such a stranglehold on innovation, Android will out-innovate and outcompete iOS.

Or maybe Apple provides a platform that some users and businesses still find it worth paying for.

You're arguing for the government to ban products you don't like when you can just buy something else.

If you seriously think is a majority opinion you need to get out more. The average person wants strong device security, look at the press and angst attracted by cybercrime in recent times.

The discussion is about control. No one is saying devices should be less secure.

If you ask people "should you be able to run any program you want on your devices?" I doubt people would answer "yes, on computers, but on phones I should only be able to run what Tim Apple allows me to".

So many people on HN do make that distinction, though. This whole “phones aren’t computers” mentality confuses me to no end. They are most people’s primary computing environment now and the end users have almost completely lost control of them. It fills me with sadness and makes me hate our industry.

I can only assume it’s rooted in profit motive. Pure and simple greed.

Most people would answer ‘I’m happy with what’s on the App Store thanks I have no desire to use anything else’.