Huge parts of social life are gated behind smart-phone services and the workarounds are burdens.
> an android device can easily be nonGoogle.
But I don't think "Easily" is true here. I do it, and it's easy for me, and presumably for you, but presumably because we have the time and skills to make it work. And even the most ideal "non-Google" phone takes hefty compromises.
KaiOS used to be the only real alternative someone might have, since it had some apps like WhatsApp, etc. But as of Sept 2021, that's no longer available.
The point is that avoiding Apple and Google, while it may be technically and theoretically possible, is going to make your life extraordinarily complicated and is completely unrealistic for the average person in our modern society.
I don't think your "let the markets handle it" solution will work (at least, it hasn't worked for the past 20 years, has it?). America screwed up. We let a duopoly control our technology, and there's no point in defending these powers like Apple, Facebook and Google who repeatedly attempt to undermine our sovereignty and privacy. As much as I'd love for everyone on this earth to use Nextcloud and Linux, we both know that's not a reasonable expectation.
Everyone knows it, there's bipartisan support behind Big Tech regulation right now in America. Regulation is inevitable, the real question is how long we have until the lobbying money runs out...
really hasn't been enough for communicating with most people for at least 5 years. the messaging app of choice of your social group (wpp, telegram, signal, or god forbid fb messanger) is needed as well.
You do?
If you just want a phone with SMS, a web browser and email, an android device can easily be nonGoogle.
And Samsung, for example, has its own app store, as do others.
We aren't quite locked into two options. Not yet.