Over the past twenty years, we’ve learnt to take ownership of virtually any digital infrastructure.
But why does mobile software infrastructure still almost never belong to its owner? Is there a fundamental technical reason for this, or is it more a matter of economics, ecosystems and market habits?
I’d be particularly interested to hear the views of engineers who have worked on the architecture of mobile platforms or major mobile products for iOS and Android.
Perhaps I’m simply overlooking some fundamental limitation.
Do you mean, for example, Jellyfin, which reaches out to my home server and is for my personal use? Because that works.
Or do you mean why don't we just write our own apps which talk to our own infrastructure?
Or do you mean that it's just hard to have your own/personal infrastructure? Or that most apps don't support your own infrastructure?
Or are you referring to the fact that the mobile platforms lock down things such as push notifications so that it absoultely must go through them?
Can you be a bit more specific?
How would changes to it comply with regulatory requirements?
Is it as reliable as the existing system?
Those answers are perhaps where the reasons lie.