This has nothing to do with Apple, specifically, though. This is an argument for citizens to get more involved in their government process, and to avoid being suckered by government fear-mongering that results in citizen's accepting ridiculous intrusions into their lives.
Apple deciding to allow or not allow third-party app stores is irrelevant in the face of a government that has decided to pass a law that requires a particular app to be on all phones. If that law is passed, that app will end up on phones, regardless. The only alternative is that Apple would give up a market consisting the second-most populous country in the world, which isn't likely.
But I want to install them. Forcing them to go trhough Apple forces them to follow certain guideline. I like the fact that there is no alternative for those who do not want to follow those guidelines.
One of the biggest reasons why people fucking loved the iPhone to begin with was that Apple made the decision to not let AT&T or anyone else bundle any bloatware with it.
The problem is transparency — nobody has perfect information about what apps do. People on HN will be better informed than most, but do you think your mom or dad will know not to install certain apps that might be widely known (except to them) to be predatory? What about malicious apps that, say, steal credit card information?
