It’s not a desire, it is a must. There are certain kinds of application that simply would be meaningless, if they could not target 50% of the population. Like what would a messenger clone do with only half the people? (And I am fairly sure, that if nothing else, financially most apps or app ideas are in this category)
We agree on your last point, an open platform should finally emerge (and it is pretty much happening with pinephone) - but it would be a fairy tale to believe that it can gain foothold in the recent future against these monster corps
There are plenty of messenger apps that don’t have 50% of the US population.
iMessage is one of them, as is Facebook messenger.
There are many other messengers with far smaller user bases. There is no reason at all that a messaging app needs to address 50% of the population immediately.
The best way to prevent the emergence of an open alternative would be to remove the incentive for people to work on it.
The best way to remove the incentive for people to work on an open alternative would be to reduce the restrictions on what people can build for iPhone while still leaving Apple in control of the OS.
We agree on your last point, an open platform should finally emerge (and it is pretty much happening with pinephone) - but it would be a fairy tale to believe that it can gain foothold in the recent future against these monster corps