it&#x27;s because the demographic you&#x27;re talking about is vanishingly small, and therefore apple does not care about it.  do you notice them hurting for customers?<p>i installed linux when i was 12.  i&#x27;ve been working in this field for nearly 20 years.  i&#x27;m abnormal, as &#x27;techie&#x27; as they come, and i really <i>just don&#x27;t give a shit</i> about having root access on my iphone.  in fact i pretty much use it for a handful of things, primarily messaging, and that&#x27;s it.  i view my phone as a fancy microwave oven.<p>from a business point of view, you might as well ask amazon for root access on their hypervisors, or network switches.  some people give you that.  others don&#x27;t, because they just care about the people who want that.