[bsder]

> it’s because iOS and Android were so much better than the competition that every other phone manufacturer starved to death or switched to Android.

I would argue that it was because Apple and Google could cross-subsidize the market from their other buisnesses.

Google viewed the ISPs as an existential threat and saw both mobile and fiber as a way to disintermediate them. Apple saw phones as an existential threat to iPod which was a huge chunk of their revenue.

Google didn't release Android until 2008. As of 2009 Nokia still had 33% market share and even Samsung(13%) and RIM (15%) beat Apple (11%).

> iOS and Android were so established the newcomers couldn’t successfully compete.

That is practically the definition of monopoly, you know?