The same thing is true for the choice between an Xbox and a Windows PC for gaming.

The Xbox is a locked down walled garden device with no complex administrative decisions and no malware problem.

It's a game playing appliance, and some people prefer that.

The Windows PC has the freedom to run anything you like, and with that freedom comes the freedom to shoot yourself in the foot.

Some people prefer that.

Consumers have the freedom to choose what they value.

This is a nonsequitor. You fear a loss of control (someone will force you to install Google and MS apps) so you choose iOS because it has less control.

> Apple's lockdown of the iOS platform is exactly why people buy Apple products.

Citation? My impression is people find Apple hardware better, and suffer through the OS.

That’s not true for me. And I get my family on Apple devices because it’s vastly easier to be their de facto IT department that way. When I go to visit my sister, I know my nephew hasn’t sideloaded a virus into her iPad, except that if he somehow did, it’d be so unlikely that we’d have fun talking about it.

I’m not arguing that you shouldn’t use more open portable devices. I contend that there are practical reasons why I greatly prefer them.

(But lock down my laptop to a degree that I can’t install and run software from wherever, and I’d fling it out the nearest window. The above applies to tablets and phones and that’s it.)

I'm on it for the software + hardware combo. Take either away and I'd just get whatever cheap crap instead, and probably use my computers, phones, and tablets a lot less (wouldn't bother with a tablet at all, most likely).

FWIW my intro to computers was DOS and later Windows, and Linux was my daily driver for a little over a decade before I finally gave Macs a fair shot. My first three or so smartphones were Android, before I ever tried an iPhone.