"user choice" is not high on the list of priorities for Apple customers. Just look at many who suffer "paralysis by analysis" in trying to pick an iPad model, or storage capacity within a model.
You can back these statements up with what data that shows that Apple users have a problem trying to pick devices?
Apple customers appreciate the way Apple restricts what they are able to do with the devices they buy. It gives them a SENSE of safety and security... even if it isn't quite true.
Sorry, they like that Apple prevents companies like Facebook and Google from tracking us across sites and being forced to get permission to track us at all.
They like being restricted from downgrading the firmware, and the safety that comes with being unable to sideload apps.
You do understand what social engineering is, right? As soon as there is a way past the security, there is no security. When a kid or non-technical adult is told they need to sideload this application to play Fortnite or get tech support, it is a real problem. When your university or employer requires you to sideload a monitoring app, it is a problem. These are just some of the problems.
If Apple were to give users the choice to sideload apps, it would cause those who feel safe and secure to become unsettled...
Sideloading, just like alternative application stores would make it so that companies that do not want to comply with Apple’s privacy, tracking, and labeling rules will not, making it much more difficult (or impossible) for those of us who care about those things to have an option that respects those requirements.
there would be a tension between that feeling of safety and FOMO (fear of missing out) if a sideloaded app became popular. The tension introduced by the ability to sideload would indeed devalue the platform for those people.
The reality that multiple application stores and sideloading mean that users need to create accounts with multiple stores/sites both increasing the attack surface for PII and credit information, as well as the hassle of keeping track of these accounts. There seems to be this dissonance between the arguments that having alternative application stores and side loading will create competition and the argument that it will not change the ecosystem for those that do not want to use them. The only way they create competition is if a substantial number of application are only available through some alternate purchasing mechanism, in which case those who have the security and convenience of a single, trusted source for applications will no longer have that. So either they have no impact as no one uses them and Apple spends a great deal of resources implementing something that no one wants, or they have a great impact eliminating the trusted source.
iOS devices were my primary mobile devices for quite a while. But after it became painfully obvious that Apple was slow-walking improvements (in order to sell more hardware over a longer period of time), I started to replace them for non-Apple devices when it made technical and financial sense to do so.
That is quite funny. Apple devices get software updates for so much longer than Android devices, and Apple Silicon CPUs are often two generations ahead of their competition, but I am sure they are doing just what you say. Glad you are able to find devices that work for you.
I like the ability to have an iPad Mini 5 that is different from my Android devices. The Mini serves a niche need but when I need to be productive on a mobile platform, that's where Android comes in. I don't want iOS/iPad OS to simply be another Android.
I am curious what niche does your iPad serve for which there is not an equivalent Android solution, especially, since you have made clear that you are only productive on Android devices.
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