Sure, and this is why I utterly refuse to buy Apple hardware (note - I'm still forced to use Apple hardware by my place of employment... sort of making my point

Sure, and this is why I utterly refuse to buy Apple hardware (note - I'm still forced to use Apple hardware by my place of employment... sort of making my point). It's also why I've chosen to do things like selfhost my own services, run my own computing hardware (literally sitting in my basement), contribute to and fund open source initiatives, and continue arguing that the government should regulate this behavior. Because frankly... I agree with you: it's a highly successful paradigm. If left alone and unregulated, companies that don't abuse their customers in this manner will become less and less prevalent. I call it "the little green man" paradigm: They have a literal enforcer sitting inside your phone who only answers to them. They use that little green man to extort rent from you for services and goods that shouldn't require any sort of ongoing or recurring expense, but will... because rents * * cough * * excuse me, "subscriptions" are just wonderfully profitable. I'm just not an optimist on this front.