There is a tension for any platform builder -- do you build features your customers need or tools that enable developers? Perhaps platforms are justified in absorbing ecosystem functionality only when doing so improves the customer experience or long-term viability, not when it merely suppresses competition.
At the centre of this is trust. Trust is earned slowly, broken quickly, and spent continuously.
In 1998, Apple released Sherlock, a search tool that killed a third-party application, Watson. Since then, Apple has gone on to build first-party features that replicate entire businesses on its platform. Other examples include Apple’s Sports and Fitness apps, Google Shopping, and Microsoft’s original Internet Explorer.
Many of these are better, cheaper (often free), or more integrated than existing solutions. But they deplete platform trust with developers.
Platforms also have to fulfill their end of the implicit pact: platforms enable, developers invest, and a compelling platform attracts users that attracts more developers.
So when should platforms spend their trust? It’s reasonable under three scenarios that create a more compelling or sustainable customer experience.
1/ Controlled spend to set the quality bar. Show what great looks like, create reference solutions, and let the market react. Customers become attuned to well-crafted experiences and developers are encouraged to outbuild the platform’s version.
2/ Spend as an investment to be the first best customer. Identify underperforming areas, kickstart competition, and unlock APIs. The market entry legitimizes the space and reveals the missing primitives developers need.
3/ Emergency spend in response to the threat of a disruptive platform. Consumers expect more from their platforms. Developers can’t build on a platform that’s become irrelevant.
Trust is broken when platforms hold back developers. Restricting APIs, rejecting app reviews, and hampering sustainable business models all prevent would-be competition from thriving on the platform. Apple has felt this most recently with glacial third-party app development on VisionOS; years of constraining App Store policies have depleted platform trust.
As platforms lean into the scenarios above, it’s critical that they repay accrued trust debt with APIs that allow developers to build world-class experiences. To developers, platforms spending trust should feel like an investment in the future.