I think this is more about reducing support costs than extracting every transaction fee. A major benefit of a walled garden is that you can maintain a controlle

I think this is more about reducing support costs than extracting every transaction fee. A major benefit of a walled garden is that you can maintain a controlled system with largely predictable expectations of what problems users will encounter and the costs of providing support. Say what you want about Apple’s products, but their support is top tier and a major selling point for many consumers. It’s also very expensive to provide. Relaxing AppStore restrictions reduces both security and expected behavior the phone. People here will argue otherwise, but it is a fact. Alternative web browsers require the ability to make the most dangerous, security compromising system call that can be done by a normal app. Things will inevitably go wrong in ways that Apple cannot control, and users will seek the support they expect. Unfortunately now Apple is at the mercy of Google or whomever to release their own patches while Apple fronts the support costs for problems they didn’t create. Losing control of the system and being unable to provide the expected level of customer satisfaction is more damaging to the brand than otherwise. Outside of tech circles, nobody cares about alternative app stores or which JIT compiler is running when they browse the web