@ianbetteridge I agree.
I primarily use micro.blog as a public bookmarking tool so the benchmark for posting isn't "do I agree with this?" but "might I want to look at this again at some point in the future?". In this case I agree with you that he's biased against the very app store concept.
(I don't think it would be a bad idea per se to add some form of Gatekeeper-like functionality to iOS/iPadOS as long as it's in addition to the app store, though.)
I do disagree with you on one point (might not even be a disagreement) which is that I do think that the app store stifles innovation on the iPad (iPhone apps are plenty innovative tbh and mac apps can bypass the app store). I don't think the available apps come even close to realising the iPad's potential and I think the app store is a big reason why that's the case.
I also do think that the app store is largely mismanaged as well: the capricious denials, statements that directly contradict their actions, no trials and an in-app payment system that seems tailoured for abusive games design, the very dubious and inconsistent 'reader app' policy. But I still think there's value in the app store provided they figure out how to manage it properly at some point.
(Sorry about the late reply. I really should check micro.blog replies more often.)