As an end user I’d rather have it be this way though. At least under this model I can download apps and vote with my wallet.
Is that what you want? Most of human culture behind app based paywalls? No more archive.org content to preserve. Micropayments everywhere?
Can you imagine the cognitive burden of continuously, always, purchasing stuff? Of the effect on the have-nots for whom deciding to pay money for commodity content vs immediate needs is a much more important decision?