tjwolf

This issue isn't (or shouldn't be) resolved at the state level.  Whatever people think Apple is doing wrong with its App Store policies it is doing at the national, even international level.

My personal opinion is that as long as Apple is applying the same rules to the apps it sells on the iOS App Store as it applies to third party apps, it can create whatever rules it wants - the App Store is its property!  People crying monopoly abuse are just making noise.  Apple can't have a monopoly, since there is no "market of App Stores" in which it is the dominant/monopolist participant!!  Apple created the App Store to let developers sell their wares to its iPhone and iPad customers - provided they followed its rules.  It told potential iPhone and iPad users that if they buy one of their devices, they don't have to worry about security as much as when they buy other devices, because Apple protects them by only allowing apps on their devices that have been vetted by Apple.  All was good in the world - customers got what they want (a more secure device) and developers got what they want (another channel through which to make money).

But as time went by, some developers - primarily the more successful ones - no longer liked those rules.  They wanted to keep more of their money.   Leaving the iOS platform in protest wasn't an option - they were making too much money from iPhone customers - so what to do?  The answer, of course, was to turn to politicians for a little "help".  Telling those politicians about "monopoly abuse" and "customer harm" (from not being able to choose where they get their apps from), and greasing the wheels with promises of future campaign contributions, their pleas found fertile ground.

The only customers that will be harmed if Apple is forced to allow other app stores are Apple's EXISTING CUSTOMERS!  Most bought an iPhone at least partially because of the additional security a single App Store affords.  They would be made less secure if, suddenly, there were multiple stores.  Supporters of more App Stores would argue that those customers would still be just as safe because they could ignore the new stores.  But is this really true? No, it isn't!  If I get an email with a link to an app or an existing app I already have has a link to another app, I now have to be more vigilant that it's not leading to a non-Apple app store.  I now have to worry that everyone in my household that is on my Apple ID is just as vigilant - since a malevolent app on one iPhone can have disastrous effects on all the connected services & devices.  Even outside my family, I now have to worry that my data on iCloud isn't quite as secure as it once was, since there are now more malevolent apps able to run inside the Apple ecosystem, potentially taking advantage of weaknesses in Apple's security, since that security up to now assumed a relatively clean set of devices inside the castle.

There is supposedly a "Project Titan" at Apple that relates to the car.  But that could simply be a software team working on self-driving features of a future CarPlay, no?