I think the principal-agent / collective bargaining framework is correct, but I would dispute that the principals (the users, not app developers) are upset by how it works.

Most of the noise seems to be coming from developers, so, to me, it looks like Apple is doing a good job as my agent.

> Most of the noise seems to be coming from developers, so, to me, it looks like Apple is doing a good job as my agent.

Yea, whether we like it or not, app developers (as a general group, not you, the individual good guy) have proven themselves to be generally bad actors and unfortunately need to be treated as attackers. The more I hear developers complain about a platform not letting them do this or that, the more at ease I am about running software on that platform.