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My TV appliance does not support other browsers; must every appliance be open and support multiple competing browsers? Is there some rational boundary where the appliance can be shipped and just work as it was designed, and not have to support everybody's choice of software? If there exist too many limitations without work arounds, why buy it?

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I like your point and I smiled while reading it. I don't think this regulation is good either. But not for this particular reason.

The iPhone is a general purpose smartphone, and your TV is not. The "smart" part of the smartphone makes it useful without Safari. See apps that integrate with health devices or simpler uses like offline Google Maps. Neither are functioning as a "phone" but instead as a general use computer.

With the exception of the iPhone, no other general computing device is currently enforcing a single browser.

(And the "smart" in the "smart tv" does not get even close, as their apps can do almost nothing in comparison.)

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