I'm reminded of how retailers once they cross a certain threshold of popularity and distribution penetration begin rolling out their own branded products. Amazon Basics is an example of that but is true of almost any medium/large retailer. I often wondered when will that happen with Apple/Google/Amazon. It does seem inevitable, in the hindsight.
Beyond a certain scale middle men's costs become non-trivial and hard to ignore. In case of Apple, though it is more than costs alone because they want end-to-end control of UX. By the looks of it processor had become a limiting factor in achieving that control.
Makes me wonder, processor is the lower layer in the stack. What about upper layers? Apple have already rolled out their credit card. Maybe their own cellular network? A new WiFi standard, perhaps?
> I'm reminded of how retailers once they cross a certain threshold of popularity and distribution penetration begin rolling out their own branded products. Amazon Basics is an example of that but is true of almost any medium/large retailer.
Conversely if brands become popular they open their own retail stores. The point is not not give your profits away to others if your business is the one bringing in the customers and margins, not them.
Beyond a certain scale middle men's costs become non-trivial and hard to ignore. In case of Apple, though it is more than costs alone because they want end-to-end control of UX. By the looks of it processor had become a limiting factor in achieving that control.
Makes me wonder, processor is the lower layer in the stack. What about upper layers? Apple have already rolled out their credit card. Maybe their own cellular network? A new WiFi standard, perhaps?