Comment by lxgr

Because there was arguably no need for a third option. The current duopoly only exists because it was seen as risk-free, and propping up an alternative was seen as uneconomical.

> Creating good smartphone software is not easy.

Yes, but it's not rocket science either (and even if it were, the EU has both rocket scientists and a space port).

Maybe it's been too long for people to even imagine it, but European companies were fully capable of developing a smartphone OS and running an app certification platform (there were no app stores yet, as the industry was very fragmented) less than two decades ago.