(ethereal music)
- Welcome to Apple's walled garden,
where the company's hardware and software
and services have formed these very high walls around you
so you can never leave.
If you own an iPhone and at least one other Apple gadget,
you live here with me, in this metaphorical walled garden,
which for journalistic purposes brought us
to this real walled garden.
In tech, a walled garden is a closed ecosystem of products
and with antitrust scrutiny
and the Epic versus Apple lawsuit,
lately you hear a lot about Apple's-
- [Reporter] Walled garden.
Walled garden.
Walled garden!
- [Jennifer] To lock in users to its walled garden.
So how did Apple's walls get so high?
And is it even a bad thing
that it's difficult to climb out
and explore products from other companies
like Google, Samsung, and Microsoft?
When did these walls get so high?
Come take a garden tour with me.
I'm gonna help you understand.
This real walled garden, here in Yonkers, New York,
has many different areas, just like Apple's.
Let's start here at the entrance with your Apple hardware.
Without it, you can't enter the garden.
No, these sections are not to scale,
definitely not according to Apple revenue.
Your journey into the garden likely started with an iPhone.
Then you bought an Apple Watch or AirPods
because they worked so well with the iPhone.
And maybe you also have an iPad or MacBook.
And now you're here forever.
Many companies like Samsung and Google
have families of products too,
but what makes Apple stronger is its full control
of the next part of the garden.
This big section here is Apple's software.
That means iOS, MacOS, and WatchOS, and iPadOS.
All of these have Apple-only features
that tie them together to work better together.
They don't work with Android phones or Windows computers.
The list is long, but let's look at a few.
There's iCloud.
This syncs all your photos, documents,
notes, et cetera across devices.
There's AirDrop.
This makes it easy to share a file
from one Apple device to another.
There's AirPlay.
This makes it easier to play music or video,
say Apple TV+'s own "Ted Lasso",
from an Apple device on another Apple device.
There's the underlying continuity.
This lets you hand off a web page, email,
or another activity quickly
from your iPhone on another Apple device.
And then there's the ultimate one, iMessage.
Apple's messaging system lets you send and receive messages
and stickers and games and money, but only on Apple devices
and to people with Apple devices.
It's the ultimate blue bubble wall.
The final big area of the garden, Apple services.
In this first services area,
you have everything from Apple TV+,
what's a computer, to Apple Music to Apple Fitness+
Pushups, here they are, everyone.
With most of these, you have to pay more
in the form of monthly subscriptions.
Good thing I'm in this garden by myself.
And Apple often uses its power over the platform
to persuade you.
For instance, this perpetual pop-up in my settings menu.
Some of these services are available
for other gardens, like Android or Windows,
but the experience is always better on an Apple device.
And then there's one very big service here, the App Store.
Think of it as a large pool inside a walled garden.
The iOS App Store is the only app store allowed
on iPhones and iPads.
There are lots of apps in the pool, but Apple's the fish,
eating 15% to 30% of paid app revenue
and even digital in-app purchases.
Oh, that one's eating 30% of that app revenue right there.
This has been at the heart of complaints
from other tech companies, like in the Epic Games lawsuit.
Zoom out to see the whole map
and it's quite the business lesson.
Every part keeps you with Apple
and spending more money with Apple.
The first third is what gets you in.
The second, where it gets you to start using
and buying even more from section one.
The third, you buy more stuff,
except it's digital stuff on your devices.
Study that if you want to build
the next $2 trillion company.
So you can see as the garden grows,
the walls grow higher and higher,
so it's even harder to get out of here.
But is it really all that bad?
It's called a walled garden
because the stuff inside is very pretty and works great,
so you may not even want a peek over the wall
to see what Samsung or Microsoft or Google has
on the other side.
And Apple argues that many of its walls
protect user privacy and security.
Specifically, it says it's walled App Store
keeps out malware and other bad actors.
The not-so-great stuff starts to show
when you try to bring a competitor into the garden,
(ominous distorted wind whooshing)
(whispers) Android.
say switching to a Windows laptop or an Android phone.
The serenity of the garden can be disrupted.
Since there's no iMessage for Android, for instance,
you can suddenly miss out on contacts or even groups.
In fact, in an internal email surfaced
in the Epic versus Apple trial, an Apple executive said,
"iMessage on Android would simply serve
"to remove an obstacle
"to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones."
Hey, if Apple's garden is so good,
why does it need these walls to keep us in?
There's also the argument that it stifles innovation.
If Apple keeps making its own versions of products,
do we miss out on new ideas and innovations?
And when it comes to the App Store swimming pool,
developers argue Apple is unfairly abusing its power
to charge developers more.
While the legal battles about this garden will play out
in anti-trust suits and more over the next few years,
there are a few ways Apple users can poke little holes
in Apple's garden walls.
If there's a good alternative to an Apple service,
like Spotify for Apple Music, give it a real chance.
You shouldn't just choose to use services
because they're right there on our devices.
Then if you pay for a subscription through the App Store,
find out what the app charges on its own website
for the same service.
You could get a surprise discount.
Also, Apple has over the years allowed you
to change your default web browser or email app.
So, no, you might not even want to climb out
or dig out, but the breaking a few holes in the walls
might let a little more sunshine in.
Hey Tim, just iMessage on Android and Windows.
Think about it.
Just think about it.