[samatman]

> I'm just struggling to figure out why the PERCEPTION is very different between iOS and the home console market.

I think a lot of it is the Hacker News effect. Folks around here take free-as-in-free-software seriously, and good for them (us). I'm confident the median iPhone user just downloads apps and uses them; they haven't thought much about alternate app stores and probably wouldn't use them if they were available. I'm pretty sure that iPhone users who complain about software freedom are a tiny minority of all users, especially since the wild world of rooted Android phones is out there for people who feel strongly about such things.

I do get your point, though: consoles are luxury playthings if you're not in professional esports, and phones are a de facto necessity of modern life. It doesn't follow that most, or even many, iPhone users, are discontented with Apple's policies: I figure the bulk of them haven't thought about it once, quite sure my mother and brother haven't.