Apple just kicked Fortnite off the App Store

In this case they have no choice. If you want to sell applications that run on Apple devices, you must sell them on Apple's store. Doesn't matter where they host their software and servers.

There is no historical mainstream analog since desktop/laptop OS software has never been so locked-down that it was impossible to install software without 1st-party permission. Even early videogame consoles had unlicensed games run on them, and the console vendors could only stop them by releasing new hardware.

I feel like making Apple devices and Apple's store seem like two separate things doesn't really make sense. The whole entire phone top to bottom is Apple's store. The "App Store" is just a pretty downloader.

Apple should just be as draconian as possible so that more people will voluntarily put in the effort to learn how to build and consume open platforms.

If people don't want to do that, that's on them.

If Epic doesn't want to invest in an open cell phone platform that can run Epic binaries, then its only options are to beg the government for help, or to take Apple's bs on the chin

Once upon a time, there was a certain large and innovative American technology company. It invented incredible hardware devices, which it sold to end users. Each device was programmed to connect to this company's network, and to access services provided by this company.

A large and growing ecosystem of applications and services grew around the network which this American company controlled, and the network became central to the American economy [1]. Other businesses had to connect to this company's network, so that they could reach the company's many end users. But the company jealously guarded its end users, inflicting onerous burdens on competitors, or disconnecting them entirely [2].

That company, the American Telephone and Telegraph company, was eventually dissolved by the US Department of Justice due to charges filed under the Sherman Antitrust Act [3].

Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh, right, there aren't any historical analogs to the App Store. Apple is a bastion of innovation and an important defender of privacy rights, and I can't imagine that its management would ever recklessly endanger that by running afoul of antitrust law.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carterfone

[2] https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=107525656002865...

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._AT%26T

How does someone build their own phone?