Re: Epic
"If app stores become an unregulated wild west then how do I know whether the metronome I've just bought for my phone isn't going to download malware, steal log in creds and spam all my contacts?"
Very simple. If the app store becomes unregulated and/or Google is reigned back in from their attempts to turn the Play store into their own walled garden, vendors would be able to offer the apps to download from their own websites.
Not only would this shatter the monopoly status of the stores, it would also vastly reduce the problem of malware on mobile: if I want Fortnight, I'd download the app from the Epic website - any other site offering it, I know there's a chance it might be containing an unwanted passenger.
And the irony of this is that in this new world of total market freedom, Google and Apple could still win by repurposing their stores as promotional sites - users would still use them to discover and rate/review apps, but instead of purchasing the app via the store, the user would be directed to the vendor's own website. By charging a "reasonable" fee to register each app on the store, Google and Apple could still make a considerable profit. However, the choice of whether or not to do this would lie with the app's vendor thus satisfying the legal requirement of "not a monopoly" - for example, the vendor could decide to promote their app solely on social media and not use the "app store".
Breaking the current stranglehold is the best thing that could happen to the mobile app market IMHO.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
