> and allow people to install apps from alternatives and let devs use other payment systems
Pre iPhone this is how all software was sold.
Not defending Apple, but independent developers ended up with far smaller piece of the pie.
That’s one of the reasons devs flocked to the AppStore. At the time 70% was exceedingly generous compared to other distributors.
> That’s one of the reasons devs flocked to the AppStore. At the time 70% was exceedingly generous compared to other distributors.
It's quite ironic how the company that disrupted the frankly predatory pricing model standard at the time is now itself predatory.
Somewhat tangential:
It's also complicated by the markets changing: PCs used to be the ubiquitous platform (where you could distribute whatever you wanted however you wanted [1]), and the mobile phone was a luxury-ish product (tightly controlled by distributors). Now mobile phones are the ubiquitous platform everyone depends on... and they are extremely tightly locked down and controlled.
[1] Has anyone paid for their WinRaR license yet? :)