Is it really that different than the razors-and-blades, inkjet printers, games consoles, or electric toothbrush business model? Or even the new cars and service model [wherein more money is made in the service bays than on the showroom floor].
I wasn't around on this planet when razors-and-blades model was first invented, but it wouldn't surprise me if people raised objections back then.
To me, the general model of selling/giving away a device that serves only to lock the customers into buying overpriced consumables is ethically questionable. I find it exploitative, dishonest, wasteful and anti-competitive. Such business model requires the corrupting the law to create completely artificial constraints, to make it illegal for competitors to offer said consumables, in order to prevent competitive pressure from pushing the price of consumables down to where it should be[0].
I can't give a detailed and coherent argument for why I feel that way, not just yet - part of the reason I comment in IoT/DRM/another-product-turned-into-bullshit-service threads is to try and discover that argument through discussion. But it really feels wrong, compared to a hypothetical reality where both the devices and their consumables were properly priced closer to the marginal cost of production, which can happen only if people can freely build on top of platforms.
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[0] - And if I'm listing negative adjectives, I might add parasitic - in the sense that if you imagine business models as organisms, this one took over host society's legal system to ensure it could to outcompete more straightforward (honest) ones.
I don't think you need to expand so much on the reason why you're opposed to this business model, it's all understood and well-documented. The usual argument against this sentiment is that it's difficult to establish clear legislation on it. See the very similar debates on planned obsolescence and right to repair.
> Such business model requires the corrupting the law to create completely artificial constraints
So what? As long as no such laws exist that's fine, and a corrupt country will get bigger problems anyway. The problem is that it's not true since constructors can increasingly rely on complexity: reverse-engineering is getting more and more complex (see recent iPhones).
