It's a problem for those who already bought Apple and didn't know any better or didn't care. Also, not everyone likes the only available other alternative, which is Google, as while they allow sideloading, they're still a privacy nightmare ad-ware company.
The mobile space really needs a shake-up from the entrenched duopoly as currently the choice are a rock or a hard place.
>as while they allow sideloading, they're still a privacy nightmare ad-ware company.
You can definitely de-google AOSP (and I believe a few phones sell on that promise if you don't want to ever interface with that stuff). You can't de-apple IOS as of now.
I don't think that problem will be solved anytime soon. Network effects + market capture = no one is going to want to learn a new system. The desktop space has been 3 platforms for decades and the only potential challenger is... Google. Meanwhile, Microsoft, Blackberry, and Palm all dropped out nearly a decade ago and there's nothing new on the horizon.
> It's a problem for those who already bought Apple and didn't know any better or didn't care. Also, not everyone likes the only available other alternative, which is Google, as while they allow sideloading, they're still a privacy nightmare ad-ware company.
If you do care about privacy and having control of your own hardware, Google is the only choice, and that should be very obvious. Not because Android is so much better, but because you have a lot of options, even using a custom rom if you want. No such option with Apple.
> Google is an ad company so it's totally not obvious to me.
Google being an ad company is irrelevant here. I wasn't clear in my wording, I should have said 'Android as a platform' and not Google, is the only choice, and it is.
Sure, there are disadvantages and it's not perfect, but it doesn't matter. If you care about privacy, using something like Graphene or eOS on a Fairphone is your best option.
> Oh, and can I pay with my phone when using those custom roms, for example?
The demand isn't there for that. Help change that and be the change you want to see in the world.
If trying to get enough public support to push for structural change is the idea, then iOS is currently moving toward being less locked down, while Android has been getting more locked down.
Help change that by supporting open platforms over closed platforms. It's that simple. Put your money towards fairphones and pinephones and not iphones.
I will put up with a certain amount of jank to support better platforms, but those two in particular are a mess and the fairphone is still stuck on qualcomm.
Cydia requires a jailbreak to begin with, which won't be available on newer devices. Sandcastle project is just Android for iPhones which wouldn't be an alternative to Android and it looks abandoned, too.
Android is the better choice not due to Android specifically, but rather due to Android as a platform which includes the hardware that the Android OS can run on, and all the forks of Android.
Fundamentally boils down to the question of whether or not your society is equipped with enough education to successfully make rational consumption choices.
