Okay, this is not an iPhone vs Android Phone debate. I respect your right to choose whichever platform that you want.
I mean, iPhone seems so antithetical with the idea of freedom. You have to connect it to a server to even use it, all apps have to go through a centralized server, no option to install whatever apps you want, which means, you literally cannot have any third-party apps without an online account.
Most of my fellow americans seems to love the idea of freedom so much, yet just buy into a closed ecosystem with no freedom? 🤔
Like almost 60% of Americans use iPhone, kinda weird to preach freedom when you cant even have an app without a corporation’s approval. If it were any other country, I wouldn’t find it weird, but for a country that’s obsessed with the idea of freedom (so much so that they disobeyed mask mandates), it’s really weird to be using a device with zero freedom.
The iPhone came out before Android, so Apple had first mover advantage it could solidify to a sticky user base.
Also, a “free” Android experience only occurs when you’ve got full control of everything. Android was a lot more willing to give up control to third parties, including carriers. With Apple, you’re only giving control to one company.
I think you overestimate the value of those first two years.
What else justifies 60% market penetration?
I mean apple has spent at least the last decade using iMessage as a way to bring people into the platform and keep them there. Ie the articles from a few years back about using it to manipulate teenager behavior a la Instagram, or the epic games discovery documents which indicated this was a deliberate and cruel strategy from apple to lock ignorant people into their platform to avoid losing their social network.
Tldr: they deliberately try to make people lose friends if they leave the platform. You might say “shit friends” and I’d agree, but this is the FUD that apple spreads.