[markm248]

I don't understand the last sentence:

"That, though, is exactly why Microsoft had to pay so much: buying in directly is a whole lot more expensive than using leverage, which can produce equivalent — or better! — returns for much less investment."

[mattnewport]

I think his point was that Apple has leverage over developers (you have to go through the app store to access iOS users) and therefore doesn't have to care about investing in a good developer experience. Microsoft doesn't have equivalent leverage to get developers to develop for Windows or Azure so they have to instead invest more in winning developers over by offering them better tools and services, hence the expensive GitHub acquisition.