By everyone I meant all parties involved, not every single person in the entire world (that would be a ridiculous statement):
Apple: benefits by having exclusive apps of a quality standard they can determine where the platform and the store are almost synonymous. Ex: I'm getting an iPhone so I can play that game.
Developers: Benefit by having a platform with as few barriers to purchases and a large audience. Ex: I'll target my game for iOS because there are 100M+ potentials users and popular opinion is to get an iPhone to have access to the most games.
Consumers: Benefit by having an easy method to purchase apps with a certain level of trust and a vary large selection available in one place.
Normally a free market comes up with these things.
The argument above (and in nearly every conversation on this topic) is, the Apple market is NOT free, is designed for Apple's financial benefit alone, is capricious and repressive. And the iPhone is the only market like this.
Apple: benefits by having exclusive apps of a quality standard they can determine where the platform and the store are almost synonymous. Ex: I'm getting an iPhone so I can play that game.
Developers: Benefit by having a platform with as few barriers to purchases and a large audience. Ex: I'll target my game for iOS because there are 100M+ potentials users and popular opinion is to get an iPhone to have access to the most games.
Consumers: Benefit by having an easy method to purchase apps with a certain level of trust and a vary large selection available in one place.