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Those were feature phones, basically the handheld equivalent of a games console. In the age of smartphones, there is not a single reason that software distribution should be centralized.


What's different about game consoles and smartphones?


My bank and local government aren't making game consoles one of my primary methods of accessing their services. Smartphones are heavily integrated into the daily lives of most people now. They need to be regulated that way and the makers of these devices need to have less control over their users. We wouldn't allow a car maker to charge a fee to parking garages because the driver is "their customer". I need a car, I need a phone; being a hub of value shouldn't allow for such a high degree of rent seeking.


Do banks and local governments require using smartphones from Apple (or any one manufacturer) to the exclusion of other prominent smartphone options? That would be surprising to me, and definitely bad. But as far as I know, core services like that are going to be accessible on at least iPhones and Android smartphones, which is going to cover the vast majority of smartphone market share, so I'm not really sure why the ubiquity of smartphones is particularly relevant to what Apple's rules for third-party developers should be.




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