I am sorry to push back on this, but this is just incorrect.
The truth is the vast majority of users do not care about sideloading apks. Apple knows this. Google knows this.
However, it is important that it is allowed without any major hurdle (a warning dialog that you need to click OK on is not a major hurdle for me once you consider that many malicious actors will use this sideloading for nefarious purposes).
Google allows it and you are free to use it without major hurdles. Yes, most users don't care to, and that's fine.
> The truth is the vast majority of users do not care about sideloading apks.
You can't really say that since it isn't a common deployment strategy. If web installs of APKs were normal and had no road blocks, then the practice would be commonplace.
The users care about software. There is only one blessed path to get it.
F-Droid is not a good comparison here because the primary motivator for people to use it is ideological, not because it has a wider selection or cheaper prices. The many different app stores in China is a better example of how a somewhat competitive app store landscape could look to the average user.
Just because you can ask your users to build a nuclear fission reactor, doesn't mean that they can or will.
F-droid gets ~3M MAU, with a 70% bounce rate. It's pitiful.
This is a pathetic case for mobile rights and freedom. Practically nobody knows how to make use of this model.
Installing software should be first class, not buried in the settings. It shouldn't have scare walls, either.
Google knows exactly what they're doing with the "freedom" they're letting end users have. 0.1% of users even know about or can leverage it.