> An optional appstore with verifications is one (great) thing, making it mandatory is another.

Sure, and it's great that Android has side-loading and it would be nice if Apple offered that too without a Mac/Dev License and XCode. But, given the option between the two ecosystems, I continue to choose iOS.

> There are still some holdouts that don't upgrade to the newer api on purpose but that's why google is bumping the minimum api version to publish on the store soon

I've heard a similar argument 4+ years ago, this was supposed to be fixed in Lollipop: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8461466