I think you're right the value would change. However, holding value constant and replacing Apple with an open platform in the game would increase value captured by either developer or end user.
One could probably argue the value of an open platform could meet or exceed Apple, given enough time and money.
> One could probably argue the value of an open platform could meet or exceed Apple, given enough time and money.
GNU/Linux are at it for 20 years with money pumped from Intel, Google, IBM, Red Hat, SuSE and many others.
The only success on the desktop is in the form of Android/Linux and Google has the freedom to change the kernel for something else whenever they feel like it.
I would argue that the Web is an example of an open source and free platform. I predict that in 3-5 years most of the mobile apps will be in Javascript with platforms exposing PhoneGap-like standard interfaces.
The web is not locked down. Anyone can publish anything, and the source has traditionally been visible. And look at the explosion that it produced - some good and some useless but the huge usefulness of the internet in the last 10 years has been led by the web, not by proprietary app silos.
One could probably argue the value of an open platform could meet or exceed Apple, given enough time and money.