> that is the developers choice not the users choice
users (should) have options, not choices.
as a user you can choose among the options provided to you.
the more the options, the better in general, sometimes it could be a little bit worse for a single user, but that's alright and honestly very rare to be charitable.
giving users the power to choose in every detail how the product should be developed and distributed will inevitably end up like this
the counter argument is that giving Apple all the power is not beneficial for users (userS, plural)
Imagine if Apple decided what music you can listen to or which website you can visit or what movies you can watch with their devices. Their mobile platform has two main actors: Apple, the owner of the distribution platform, and the developers, who create the products being distributed on such platform. Users are, as the name implies, users.
Your options will be: select the apps only from the App Store, select them from the App Store and the developer website and finally don't use an Apple device. Which is one option more than it was until now.
That isn't the counter you think it is.