They would probably ban browsers altogether from iOS, if they could get away with it. Fortunately we are not there yet.
If it had been invented today you could only iMessage other iDevice holders. Maybe you would also have had another for-profit middleware company just to deliver messages between Apple and Android devices. Something like a telephone exchange.
I very much agree, if it were invented today there's no way it would be an open standard. It almost wasn't even back then.
> ban web browsers
and this is the point.
Stop playing games.
Allow users to access and easily use the open web with the internet device they bought from you.
Full stop.