once you start using that kind of app with literally anybody, you start building a mass of users that's gonna end up dragging others into that walled garden or exclude others from using it. hell, even when you just start using it alone, you begin to accumulate stuff that's gonna weigh you down, and make it harder to switch, to pick something else, and make it more likely that you're just gonna continue using this thing. and then perhaps use it for collaboration. which is gonna work just fine at first, if you happen to have apple users around. but then, whoops, somebody doesn't have an apple device. depending on value of that content and value of collaboration, it could be very, very awkward, to force someone to use it, or to bargain with someone about using it, which will probably end up at 'well, you could buy a used apple device? or something? idk'. that's...not great.
ability to let people collaborate freely and conveniently is one of the aspects of collaboration. if there's no way for someone to collaborate (such as, no app on other platforms,
so no way to collab without owning/buying an apple device), there's just no collaboration. it's anti-collaboration, even. others are specifically prohibited from collaborating, unless they clear some kind of requirement.
with closed stuff like this, you always open yourself up to a future scenario where somebody will either not be able to use it and get excluded, or get forced to use it. it's not even on the web. it's a proprietary format. it's a dead end for content. i'd be very interested to hear what kind of export this thing does, if it even can do that.
honestly, these kinds of apps and walled garden things should get shot at much sooner, without even getting the benefit of 'well it's just for personal use/for apple users - it's fine' (no it's not. soon usage spreads to other things, and sooner people become entrenched in proprietary stuff and drag others in with them), before they end up becoming a bigger problem, like imessage bubbles have, or whatever interoperability thing has. the choice that you're making by choosing things like this is 'am I comfortable with selling a $429 iPhone SE or a $329 iPad to my friend/my colleague/my family/my kid/some random person, just so they would be able to get on a thing with me'. in walled gardens, you end up not just operating as a 'user/customer', but also as a salesman for that company.
I'd argue if it was completely incidental then it's network effect. If it's deliberately done to achieve anticompetitive outcome it's more than that. In the case of Apple, we know they do these things for anticompetitive reasons. They are on the record in email chains discussing how they weaponised iMessage in exactly that way. So I think they don't get the benefit of a benign assumption here ... it's more than likely they are specifically doing this as a way to drive a wedge that forces people into their ecosystem against their will.
yes, and? (edit: well, actually, no, you're just ignoring the lock-in part. but even if so,) in this case, it's a network that's more limited than others in terms of who's able to access it and what hurdles they have to overcome. like, network effect can be pretty bad, but this, mixed with ecosystem lock-in, is even worse.
ability to let people collaborate freely and conveniently is one of the aspects of collaboration. if there's no way for someone to collaborate (such as, no app on other platforms, so no way to collab without owning/buying an apple device), there's just no collaboration. it's anti-collaboration, even. others are specifically prohibited from collaborating, unless they clear some kind of requirement.
with closed stuff like this, you always open yourself up to a future scenario where somebody will either not be able to use it and get excluded, or get forced to use it. it's not even on the web. it's a proprietary format. it's a dead end for content. i'd be very interested to hear what kind of export this thing does, if it even can do that.
honestly, these kinds of apps and walled garden things should get shot at much sooner, without even getting the benefit of 'well it's just for personal use/for apple users - it's fine' (no it's not. soon usage spreads to other things, and sooner people become entrenched in proprietary stuff and drag others in with them), before they end up becoming a bigger problem, like imessage bubbles have, or whatever interoperability thing has. the choice that you're making by choosing things like this is 'am I comfortable with selling a $429 iPhone SE or a $329 iPad to my friend/my colleague/my family/my kid/some random person, just so they would be able to get on a thing with me'. in walled gardens, you end up not just operating as a 'user/customer', but also as a salesman for that company.