[kinkrtyavimoodh]

Because Apple wants it and they are one leg of the international duopoly of mobile OSes. And most small apps aren't important or differentiated enough for people to change platforms over.

This really needs concerted action on part of 5-6 big apps, such as Netflix, Facebook etc. Anything short of that, and Apple is going to keep eating their lunch like a school bully.

[sgc]

IMO it requires government regulation since the app stores function as virtual "natural monopolies" (natural monopolies are regional monopolies created by the nature of the product or service you provide). Natural monopolies are most definitely regulated by sane governments.