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As soon as developers have other options for distribution (that is cheaper), that’s what they will use. Look at Epic for an example. I used to play Fortnite with my kids on my iPad, but can’t anymore. So, my choices from the App Store will be more limited.
That’s both illustrative and damning. Developers will leave and consumers will be less protected. And I’m not really even thinking about malware, but dark patterns like uncancelable subscriptions or surprise in app purchases.
The one exception I can think of is apple forcing twitter to keep the block functionality.
Apple is forcing every shady company to disclose their tracking practices in the AppStore page of their app.
Apple is forcing every shady company to provide good reason to the app review board why their app needs permission for background execution, bluetooth usage, location permissions, and any other sensitive stuff. They can't just ask for a ton of permissions and count on the user blanket-approving them due to popup blindness.
Apple is forcing every shady company to offer pseudonymous Apple login if they require registration, so they can't harvest my email address or spam me after I stopped using their app.
I mean, who gives a shit about awareness if they knowingly allow and even put resources towards enabling the tracking practices? The real boon would be forcing apps to not track. The fact that apple has gotten into selling ads and has not offered any functionality to the user controlling the internet access of particular apps should clue you in to the fact that you're getting fucked.
IMO, any alternative to the App Store can only strengthen apple's ecosystem. It would help if we had anti-trust legislation from this century but it's gonna take a lot more pain to get there.