But it doesn't have to be that way. Even with locked bootloaders on Android devices people are finding ways to install custom builds of Android. Why not custom builds of GNU/Linuix, FreeBSD or even Windows.
How many people do that to their PC? The vast minority. The situation that is on phones and tablets isn't all that different than what people do by choice.
The majority of people don't care. If the people don't care, why would a company do it?