Expecting Apple to do what Google and Microsoft does because it's "normal" would be a fine way of stifling innovation...

Seems easy to say Apple blocking so much competing software is stifling innovation too.

On their platform perhaps, but it's just one of many. That goes back to Tim Cook's comment that Apple competes against Samsung, not Google. People pick phones, not operating systems.

Yeah but that’s the thing. Historically once a software platform gets big enough a company is forced to open it up to increase innovation.

I sure hope they are never forced to open up, it's the only thing that keeps me recommending Apple to my parents, in-laws, and other non-tech-savvy people in general. If I have to worry about them getting tricked into side-loading garbage, it'll just be Windows all over again. Twenty-plus years of that was more than enough.

I wholeheartedly agree.