> the walled garden creates an environment that is more attractive to the average user.
Any studies confirming this, or is it just your opinion? In my experience, nobody who owns an iPhone knows about the walled garden (among non-tech people at least).
Market share is pretty easy to look up? iPhones are massively popular, and have the majority market share in the US.
> nobody who owns an iPhone knows about the walled garden
That's-a bingo! Exactly. Because it just works, because Apple has tight control over the pipeline. They don't need to know and it seems like tech people don't appreciate the degree to which a trustworthy, mostly-idiot-proof appliance is incredibly valuable to the average user. Choosing between stores and warnings about trojans in security apps are not things that most users care about or want to think about. iPhones are great because the user can have little idea what they're doing, and still be pretty sure they won't screw it up.
As I've said elsewhere, I run void linux on my personal thinkpads because I customize everything. But that's not for everyone.
People choose Apple due to the feeling of being secure, which has nothing to do with the walled garden, and probably actual security is harmed by it (see the fiasco with iMessage zero-clicks).
Another reason is that everything just works, which can be achieved on GNU/Linux, too: see laptops with preinstalled systems.
Any studies confirming this, or is it just your opinion? In my experience, nobody who owns an iPhone knows about the walled garden (among non-tech people at least).