Wesley Hilliard
Apple is said to be bringing updates to Safari, Health, Maps, and iMessage during its WWDC keynote — updates that would increase customer lock-in.
When a user buys an iPhone they are met with iMessage, FaceTime, AirDrop, Apple Health, and a slew of services provided by the manufacturer itself. This is referred to as "lock-in" or the "walled garden" effect and Joanna Stern of the Wall Street Journal thinks Apple's operating system updates will make lock-in even worse.
Of course, next week at WWDC the walls will get even higher. I hear there are big updates coming to Safari, Health, Maps and iMessage at WWDC next week.
— Joanna Stern (@JoannaStern) June 4, 2021
Apple is expected to announce updates to all of its primary operating systems and first-party apps. The updates announced at Apple's developer conference are usually more significant than others made throughout the year and can greatly impact the user and developers.
Getting a customer to buy the iPhone then use a multitude of apps and services only available on that device ensures customers are less likely to switch platforms. One of Apple's biggest draws, iMessage, has been brought up as an unfair advantage of the Apple ecosystem during anti-trust trials.
Adding new features to Apple Health could create yet another avenue for customer lock-in. Once a user starts logging every aspect of their life, medical records, and symptoms into an app, it can be hard to move away from such a system.
Apple's ability to integrate hardware and software vertically has often been a pain point for competitors. Since Apple controls the "entire stack" in a device from silicon to the entire operating system, Apple can implement features Android manufacturers have difficulty replicating.
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12 Comments
Joanna Stern is a buffoon… I had an Android phone for 7 years before switching to iPhone and I will never go back… Android World sucks… and I started on Windows PCs years ago before switching to the vastly superior Mac OS Garden. BOZO: Moniker Steve Jobs gave to Inept, Incompetent, and misinformed people both inside and outside of APPLE!
Improvements to Maps?!?!
Could it be?!
Flyover and Lookaround for everywhere in USA?!
No… no, it won’t.
Spare us the inane “walled garden” articles. Let’s hear more about Apple’s brilliant integration and how it kicks ass on the competition. People can choose to buy into the platform that works best for them, so no one is being locked into anything.
I’m all for updates to the referenced apps but “making the walls higher” is a stretch. The OS smoothness, security, overall lack of bugs, 5 years of support, and design/quality of hardware is what “locks me in”.
Why is the article grabbing onto the “wall” part of her quote, then explaining, in depth, what that means to a bunch of Apple fans on an Apple news website? We already know what a walled garden is, and we willingly choose to enter and stay. How about some explanation about what these possible “big updates” are in Safari, Health, Maps and iMessage? Ugh.