Because the same people who make the devices also run the app store. Therefore they get to stay 'No other app stores allowed' on our devices and OS.
Isn't this extremely obvious?
Isn't this extremely obvious?
Yes and no.
The obvious answer is to make your own device with your own OS and make it better than iOS or android. That used to be difficult, but the quality of iOS and android has been declining for a long time. We're at the point where an alternative could be viable for somebody with deep enough pockets and the know-how.
The not-so obvious answer is we have lots of evidence over the years of the tech sector engaging in anticompetitive and illegal actions with very little consequence. Apple, Google and Facebook colluding not to poach each other's employees. Intel threatening to cut off relations with any computer manufacturer that deals with AMD.
It's very likely that Google and Apple would use their influence and power to kill any viable competitor. So, how do you deal with that?
I said legally-justifiable antitrust claims. Apple has a minority of the smartphone market. You can make anything into a "monopoly" if you define it narrowly enough but that's not legally justifiable in any way.
Unless you want to legally force every company to surrender their source code (which I enthusiastically would support), there's no legal basis for Apple not being able to have their proprietary feature phone locked down.
Though if you'd like, you can look at Keurig, which does limit what you can put into it to "only Keurig products" or one of the millions of other things that limit what you can put into it.
Whatabout...
I don't think Google allows Amazon to distribute their app store through the Play Store, so you have to sideload it.
Doesn't solve the distribution problem anyway – the app stores are the shelf