Now those who did not invest in that process are crying to their respective governments for a way to make Apple let them play.
You aren't suggesting any music/video streaming service or game developer should or can develop their own platform, are you?
It's not Microsoft or Nokia or Blackberry that failed to invest as much to succeed that
It's the countless smaller businesses (developers) that can't and won't each develop a smartphone platform of their own - because the market just will not bear more than two, three, maybe four competitors.
The market for consumers operating systems inevitably converge on very few platforms - and that's economically sound and rational.
If you want to play, you have to pay, and you have to play by the rules.
Yes - but those rules should be set or regulated by the government. Not profit-seeking enterprises.
As they are in virtually all markets with as few competing platforms and as much economic relevance and dependency (utilities, including telecoms).
If Apple doesn't work for the devs, they the devs should move to a platform that they are comfortable with.
There's only one commercially relevant alternative platform (we both know which), and that has very similar terms. That's why regulation is appropriate - unlike in competitive markets with half a dozen or many more competitors.
Apple has become the world's largest and most profitable company in spite of these unfair dictates, not because of them.
Let's be honest - and not ridiculous here.
Apple has - for good or worse (and we may disagree on that) become the most profitable company
without much government
intervention/regulation (let alone "unfair dictates") at all.
Governments have been so far - until very recently - letting Apple exploit their intellectual property with regards to the iPhone/iOS as they pleased.