[snazz]

Apple has their own walled garden ecosystem because they can afford to. It really isn't much different from Microsoft in the 90s and early 00s, when they were at the peak of their market lock-in with Windows. Then the rest of the world changed, and it took them a really long time to adapt. Since they've been forced to open up their software and their ecosystem, the consumer has benefited immensely. Had everyone still been working on Microsoft Office on Microsoft Windows with generic PC hardware and the mobile revolution had not occurred, Microsoft would have never left their old ways because they didn't need to.

Whether the same thing will at some point happen to Apple we do not know (although I'll wager we're nearing Apple's peak), but it will likely take a monumental change in the way that the technology world works for such a transformation to happen.

[wbl]

Microsoft always wanted 3rd party apps on windows and never really tried to monopolize distribution or creation. They wanted the platform to be valuable to customers.