I don’t know why this is such a surprise to people.

Android has allowed sideloading since it’s inception, Samsung has had an app store for as long as they’ve had phones, Xiaomi has one, f-droid exists, etc.

And developers still vastly prefer to put their apps on Play Store because that’s just where most users are. This isn’t the end of the App Store and the hyperbole in this thread is ridiculous.