I agree that this is might not be the most-likely-to-kill-you aspect of using walled gardens, but since it's what the article is about... No, the vendor of your hardware should not be participating in schemes like region locking. You paid them for the device, they're supposed to be working for you, not against you.
The fact that google does it also doesn't make it ok.
For apps, you pay the developer and Apple takes a cut, right? The developers are the ones demanding region locking functionality, and either way they are also paying Apple. Apple’s not working against you so much as serving multiple customers, and developers get more say in how apps work. I agree that Google also doing it doesn’t justify the practice, my main point was that moving to Android doesn’t actually fix the problem like the article implied.
> The developers are the ones demanding region locking functionality
For paid apps, maybe. For the free app that is the companion to a meat-space service you are already paying for (insurance, banking, etc), region locking is a liability all-round.
I've spent countless hours working around this while travelling, and in some cases just haven't been able to use services I've paid for.
Oh I don’t doubt it’s a hassle. But you are paying the bank/insurance company, outside of Apple’s payment system, and they’re the ones refusing you international service, right? Have you tried calling them up to get support while traveling and ask why they’re blocking other countries, or ask if they offer other ways to authenticate and get in?
It might be nice for you if Apple refused to let devs build region locked apps, but that might cause other bigger problems for other people, right? For banking, hacking attempts from other countries in general is a big and serious issue. My banking app offers a region locking option for my own security, and I’m sure many banks can safely assume that login attempts from other countries are illegitimate.
> Have you tried calling them up to get support while traveling and ask why they’re blocking other countries, or ask if they offer other ways to authenticate and get in?
The trouble with that is you might need to buy a region-compatible sim card to call the bank, and you might need to call the bank in order to buy the sim card. (I was lucky I could find wifi and had a VPN set up so I could make myself appear in the US).
> My banking app offers a region locking option for my own security
This is a different thing, though - a region lock on logins might be useful.
What these companies are doing is only region locking installation. If you already have the app installed, you can use it from overseas just fine
(and you can generally setup an arbitrary-region Google/Apple account over a VPN, so the scammers just work around it that way).
> developers get more say in how apps work.
They do, but they shouldn't. This is one of the worst things about modern technology. My device, my rules, end of story. I should be able to change the inputs to the application such that it thinks it's in whatever region I decide, because I physically control and operate the device.
> For apps, you pay the developer and Apple takes a cut, right?
Yes, and it's very wrong that the device seller gets to take part on that deal too.
> Apple’s not working against you so much as serving multiple customers
Apple is explicitly working against you here. Yes, it was hired by somebody else to do it, but no, this doesn't make it ok.
And you were certainly right about that. I just couldn't resist the opportunity for a little rabble rousing. We shouldn't let them treat us like this (neither app nor platform).