What if the open source software had hardcoded links to check for updates of itself and for downloading of plugins? Would that change their obligations in providing services for updates and plugin downloads?
I'm pretty sure ingress started off costing less due to the nature of usage. If you were to see a graph of the usage you'd see ingress is used less. One reason is an http request takes less bytes than the response to the request. So the disparity in cost can't simple be attributed to a desire to trap customers
That's weird about Costco because in my experience their return policy is incredibly generous. I had a Vizio TV stop working 2 years after purchase, just outside their warranty and Costco took it back, gave me the money back and a new TV cost less than the return
I'm wondering when that was ever true? Until the advent of the iphone, from my recollection phone devices didn't allow you to install whatever you wanted. In fact they were even more restrictive for developers than they are now
You are assuming the installs number correlates with actual users which it likely doesn't. As several people have pointed out this isn't a google maintained extension. If something is this critical to your business it's on you to make sure it works for you.