the reason apple doesnt pay carriers is that the market has changed and handset makers have more power. also phones work on wifi too ;)

I was about to come up with a similar analogy.

The horrific example is Auto Makers charging each time you drive or take a passenger in your car.

Or how about charging to use a Sofa every time a customer sits on it because you licensed the fabric! LOL

Where will it end!

At this point Apple are inhibiting the growth and vitality of our Capitalist Democracies and we need to resolve this issue.

I’m an Apple share holder and all-in on the Apple eco system, and even I can agree that none of this is healthy.

If I took your toasters of the back of a truck, added "Powered by MagicMoonlight" on the side and started getting people to pay me for them, I'd imagine you'd be displeased. You built the toaster and now I'm making all the money from it. I'll tell you that I'm the one covering all the marketing budget and the electricity bill so it's not even affecting you, but is that really the case?

the reality, as you say, is that development and operation of services and APIs isnt free, and you are not entitled to sell your apps to apple’s users. the og iPhone didnt even have an app store; a lot of work went into making a great product and an ecosystem.

developers and apple enjoy a certain relationship, and users love iOS apps, but its not true that developers have the right to do whatever they want (privacy, security, not their platform).

go invent your own OS and phone then