This is a silly criticism. After all, as we all know here (right?), Atari itself fell on hard times. I was talking about the business model, not a specific business. Vendor lockdown and taking a cut of 3rd party software is clearly quite lucrative for vendors, and that's why they do it. There's of course no guarantee of success, but it's obvious why other vendors have emulated that business model.

It may be only for historical reasons that desktop computers aren't completely locked down too. It's a lot easier to lock down a new device class, like smartphones, than it is to lock down an existing open device class, without causing consumer outrage and rebellion.