We Don’t Have to Sacrifice User Safety and Convenience to Make App Stores Competitive

The gatekeeper and competition issues caused by app stores aren’t going away. At the same time, solutions to them should seek to maintain the convenience, security, and privacy benefits of software that is at least somewhat screened, since we’ve learned from experience that allowing any app, from anywhere, to have unfettered access to a user’s computer or other device is not good, either. No one wants smartphones to become like the virus and “toolbar”-infested Windows 98 family computers of the past. Security and openness may need to be balanced, but neither needs to come at the sacrifice of another.