I can’t understand how kindles are popular when there’s a plethora of ebook readers without the locked down DRM.
Also, it's not like other ebook readers let you buy non-DRM versions of whatever books you like. Most popular ebooks have DRM of some kind.
The simplicity of it makes it really appealing to users who just want to read books and not think too much about it. Android e-readers also tend to have far worse battery life and higher-friction integration with the ecosystem.
You can, of course, read non-DRMed eBooks on a Kindle, if you can find them.