Great! Let the iOS App Store compete in the free market on its own merits. I suspect it will do quite well—it's installed on all phones by default, and consumers trust it (for good reason).
The App Store should not be the only way to get software on an iPhone, sans literally hacking the device.
But it does. There are other phone platforms I could buy. Flagship android hardware is quite nice, and similarly priced. And in the past Apple has outcompeted to death windows phone and WebOS and Palm OS and BlackBerry, all of which had more open app distribution models.
I want to Apple to be the benevolent dictator of what software is on my phone, And I am willing to pay higher up prices, and put up with missing features in order to protect their revenue stream in exchange for that.
> I want to Apple to be the benevolent dictator of what software is on my phone, And I am willing to pay higher up prices, and put up with missing features in order to protect their revenue stream in exchange for that.
You could still exercise that preference even if Apple opened its platform to (easy) side-loading or other app-stores: you'd just choose to use only Apple's route for software installation.
If the Apple App Store is only one of many ways to install apps on an iOS device, then there's no issue with Apple charging whatever fees it wants. The problem here is the anti-competitive nature, since all roads lead through that same App Store -- you have to choose another phone entirely to avoid the Apple tax.
> They are competing in the free market. Users are free to not use their software and there are many other choices.
Users are not free to use other software on Apple hardware.
The operative question is how we define the market. Is the operative market "all smartphones," or are iOS devices distinct enough to qualify as a market of their own?
The answer isn't clear to me, especially because there are a variety of soft barriers. Even if "all smartphones" is the relevant market, phones are expensive; it takes on the order of $1k to walk away from an iPhone X in favour of an equivalent Android device.
> You seem to be objecting to the manner in which they compete.
I absolutely am! There is such a thing as unfair competition. As I see it, Apple is using their existing dominance to create barriers to entry for new players.
I'm free to avoid Amazon too, but as increasing amounts of society move to Amazon as the de-facto web store for everything, how reasonable is it to fully boycott them? Sure it's possible, but it would be a substantial life commitment.
Both Samsung and Huawei build more phones than Apple does. There are more Android phones than iOS phones, so exactly who has market dominance? No one is forcing you to buy Apple products. I'll take a more secure and privacy focused platform.
Many of us are boycotting Amazon by accident, I don't think it's a substantial life commitment. What have you wanted to buy from Amazon that you can't find elsewhere?
Seriously. If not for Apple's ability to keep apps from fucking with device performance and battery life (too badly, anyway) and to make their OS and overall app ecosystem relatively secure & reliable, I might as well save money and buy Android. Then just not use my phone anywhere near as much, and be less happy when I do, I guess.
The App Store should not be the only way to get software on an iPhone, sans literally hacking the device.