User lock-in on Apple's platform

Jan 29, 2019

Allow me to make one last speculation, before Apple issues its quarterly results in few hours, regarding the reasons behind the fact it missed its earnings' guidance.
I often read about user lock-in to Apple's platform thanks to, among other factors, iMessage, and why this US behavior doesn't really work in China because there, apps like WeChat are the ones people care about.

For my experience, made by looking at my habits and the ones of the people close to me, there isn't really any lock-in thanks to a particular service or app Apple makes here either.
Take messaging as an example: WhatsApp is still the most widely used among my contacts, with Telegram gaining some shares from month to month. As for iCloud, that nasty, irrational 5GB cap on free storage space is making people bothered by alerts that undermine the whole experience in a big way. Customers often choose Apple product hoping they will "just work", when this doesn't happen, any other vendor is suitable.

What really locks you in the Apple ecosystem is owning more of its devices: I might buy a MacBook because it "talks" to the iPhone, or stick to iPhones because I have an Apple Watch that would be useless without one. This has been known for years, and is one key strength from Apple's part. But as the company shifts to services, what will the real glue be? Will these services be platform-specific and so great that people will be willing to come under Cupertino's wings? Apple has already shown it intends its services to be available to Android's and Amazon's customers too (and with good reasons), so I don't really see and edge there. Maybe they will make tons of money, but what about user retainment on its hardware and software?

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