While that is true, many of the devs also do care greatly about accessibility. As someone who has worked on some a11y stuff, I do it because I think it's the right thing to do, not because of the regulations. The regulations just set a baseline.
People often forget there are humans on the other end developing things, not just faceless corporations.
companies don't make decisions just out of thin air. A lot of the accessibility features on display aren't just meeting the baseline, they go above and beyond. That's done because people legitimately care about this stuff, in addition to it being beneficial to the company.
I don’t see anything above or beyond. Just an effort to comply with civil rights law. I mean Steve Jobs was infamous for parking his Benz in handicap parking spaces just for convenience.
The companies are just as committed on principle as a real estate developer who puts in curb ramps to stay out of court.
That doesn’t mean the designer who drew the plans and the building inspector who approved them don’t care about the plight of the disabled. But the ramps are there because of the law not goodwill.
They're there for both reasons. Laws never compel fully moral, virtuous action. There's no law forcing me to be nice to my inlaws. The law only says I can't assault them or rob them.
Its the same here - Apple had some legal obligations, but they didn't need to make their phones so insanely accessible to blind people. The situation is kind of absurd - the software on ios for blind people is so good that blind people prefer to use iphones (which are pure touch screen devices) over phones with keyboards. And they have since some of the very first iphones, back when there was real competition.
Desktop computers from a few years ago didn't do any of this. Screen reading software on windows used to be 3rd party software, and it sort of sucked. Apple could have made some APIs for that and forced someone else to make expensive, janky software for blind people. The law also has no problem forcing blind people to buy expensive electronic braille keyboards and things like that. (Which used to cost upwards of $3000.) Again, they could have done the same with the iphone - forcing blind people to type with $3000 external bluetooth braille keyboards. But they didn't do that. They built everything blind people need into the operating system. They made it work well.
Be cynical if you need to. I have no shortage of criticism for the way Apple handles the app store. But credit where its due - Apple has gone above and beyond to make accessibility for blind people great on the iphone. And I think accessibility on android isn't too far behind. The software on modern phones is a massive enabler for blind people the world over. It didn't happen by accident, and it wasn't written to pass the minimum bar set by the legal department. Real people poured love into modern smartphone accessibility, and it shows. They deserve credit and respect for their work.
People often forget there are humans on the other end developing things, not just faceless corporations.