Maybe there’s another way
Perhaps Apple is thinking in the same way, particularly following the shock resignation of Matt Fischer, Apple’s Worldwide head of the App Store and the decision to split those operations into two segments: one to handle the App Store as is, the other to handle incoming alternative distribution systems. I don’t know if Apple is thinking in this direction; I’m merely speculating that it could be.
If it were, then it would provide a choice that lets people currently using iPhones retain the right to keep things as they are, rather than being forced to open up because a smattering of well-connected millionaires want to make money out of their insecurity. A lot of people — customers, developers and not just Apple — have already made a great deal of money while also protecting their security, after all.
If Apple moves in that direction, the usual chorus of voices, amplified by a click-bait-hungry media, will castigate the company for the new buzz word of “malicious compliance.” But the question, at least when it comes to customers happy with the status quo, is why should they be forced to accept an openness they neither want nor need?