455
App Store to Be 'Split in Two' Ahead of EU iPhone Sideloading Deadline
(www.macrumors.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Authoritarians are always going to be prefer authoritarian app stores where any app that threatens them can be swifty removed.
Authoritarians rule in part via suppression of information. All governments can mandate that specific things be or not be installed on devices, it's typically only authoritarians that are afraid of unknown things being installed on devices.
You're forgetting that authorities don't always work together. Authority sometimes threatens authority.
It's true that Apple can swing their weight around in some markets. However, in places where the government is able to govern as they wish, e.g. China, the CCP gets their way every time in the end... And that's pretty much how it goes with private companies vs governments. You either play by their rules or you seize to be a business in their jurisdiction.