I like to think that this would be resolved by the market, but if that were the case, why hasn’t It happened. Apple has been acting this way for 12 years. They haven’t changed their tune. The singular real market alternative is android, which still suffers from fragmentation issues. Microsoft, one of the most powerful companies in the world, couldn’t make their option work. Amazon, one of the most powerful companies in the world couldn’t get people onboard with their non-google version of Android. BlackBerry, the most powerful company in the space before Apple couldn’t keep their devices competitive. Palm, the leader before BlackBerry couldn’t make their OS stick.
IMO, this is all quite true and it signals an in-built ceiling in the mobile phone market, which I believe we're closer to reaching than people realize.
Perhaps the market's innovation that solves this walled garden problem will be towards a very different or very new kind of mobile communications product altogether, rather than a mere iteration on the now rather tired smartphone theme.
If any of those products were truly better we would be using them today. I’m not saying apples 30% take isn’t BS, what I am saying is that if enough of us tell Apple to go F themselves, I.e. what FN is doing, they will be forced to change without the government stepping into our lives. It’s basic free-market economics...
