[sanderjd]

Thanks, I hadn't seen that. For what it's worth, I think the rebuttal misses that Thompson wasn't actually arguing for a Services division - he was arguing that if Apple is serious about creating better services, as they are currently claiming to be, then that's what they should do. But that doesn't mean that they should be serious about services! That's basically the same conclusion that is drawn by the article you linked. (Thompson goes into this a bit more on last week's Exponent podcast, if you're into this sort of thing.)

[Spooky23]

I'm a fan of Thompson, but he's all over the map on this one. The podcast made almost zero sense.

Apple operates one of the biggest consumer services portfolios out there. Little things like iTunes, AppStore, iMessage, photos, find my iPhone, iCloud backup.

I think it makes sense that Apple would align its normal vertically integrated model.

[mattlutze]

For what it's worth, the author of the rebuttal does address your point (from "Conclusion"):

> But I don’t think Ben Thompson is actually arguing that it would be great if Apple created a new services division. I think he’s arguing that Apple should create a new services division if they want Services to be great. Ben Thompson is doing what good analysts do. He’s not giving us the right answer. He’s asking us the right question.

The rebuttal does a nice job of expanding the discussion around that question.

[perseusprime11]

I think Thompson is walking back from his blog. His blog and podcast do not align. I would expect him to use the givens (Apple product culture) and come up with a strong theory around why Apple should not venture into Services.