I am an iOS and macOS developer and user and it doesn't look that way to me at all. (FWIW I use their hardware because IMHO it sucks less than the alternatives; I'm no special fan).
Actually this part I agree with 100%:
> It's like they're still focused on hardware development and the software is just things users want to do so let's have an app only as needed to retain users, ish.
And I assume this hardware focus is why their subscription options have been a mixture of mediocre and worthless.
But this point, while a common trope (and even with a name, "sherlocked"), I have't really seen it much in practice, especially since OS X rolled around:
> It really seems like they're happy to let someone get popular to identify the niche that needs to be filled, roll an MVP to cover it, and kick out the originators with no real excuses.
I haven't seen much evidence of this in the real world. Even in the case of the Sherlock app they made a more powerful tool and still left room for third parties. They don't make much on their own software and their MVPs really are basic.
Apart from a few marquee apps in the photo/video space they don't really have a big app effort as far as I can tell from outside. I don't know how good those apps are either.
Actually this part I agree with 100%:
> It's like they're still focused on hardware development and the software is just things users want to do so let's have an app only as needed to retain users, ish.
And I assume this hardware focus is why their subscription options have been a mixture of mediocre and worthless.
But this point, while a common trope (and even with a name, "sherlocked"), I have't really seen it much in practice, especially since OS X rolled around:
> It really seems like they're happy to let someone get popular to identify the niche that needs to be filled, roll an MVP to cover it, and kick out the originators with no real excuses.
I haven't seen much evidence of this in the real world. Even in the case of the Sherlock app they made a more powerful tool and still left room for third parties. They don't make much on their own software and their MVPs really are basic.
Apart from a few marquee apps in the photo/video space they don't really have a big app effort as far as I can tell from outside. I don't know how good those apps are either.