The belief that all mobile devices are this locked down is Apple's greatest trick.
I don't even think it is premeditated by the Company's leadership. But the users and ecosystem evolved in a way where this level of fandom and narrative are great for them.
Apple locks down their devices, gaming consoles are locked down, most IOT and home appliance devices are locked down: even "modular" devices like PCs (and their components) lock down their firmware and close-source their drivers. Heck, most of publicly-funded software is closed-source. Entire industries are based on software that's shitty and closed-source (see Adobe or Archicad). In each of these cases opening up the relevant systems or diverting license fees to investments into open alternatives would be a dramatic improvement to status quo, and not only for the geeks, but for the average person. But, we've not yet realised that; what we're currently doing is what makes most sense to us. Oh well.
The belief that all mobile devices are this locked down is Apple's greatest trick.
I don't even think it is premeditated by the Company's leadership. But the users and ecosystem evolved in a way where this level of fandom and narrative are great for them.