> There is nothing stopping Apple from making the same device, but giving you the keys to install your own software on it
You... don't think you can install your own software on MacOS?
You... don't think you can install your own software on MacOS?
They're both perfectly fine general purpose machines - except apple holds the keys to the engine, and only hands them out when they approve of the use case.
I don’t love where that leaves us but it does make me wonder whether a better compromise would be something like regulation requiring third-party app installs but with some kind of business liability & registration requirement so e.g. Epic could set one up but fly by night scammers couldn’t easily set something up and spam AARP members.
They bought them because it was a new category of device (and extensive marketing from Apple - although I don't mean to discount the product with that statement - very solid phones, but also very excellent marketing). If anything - the early tech adopters moved to the iphone because it was more open than the existing phones at the time, which were definitely not general purpose computers. The iphone got us halfway there - I'd like to see us take the last few steps.