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.

> 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.

That's something I'd like to see as an official feature on HN or reddit. In addition of normal comments on the article you can also add "additional information from a qualified source" (which can be either a qualified user or another article from another reputable journalist).

But I am not sure if that would work. Perhaps it would be fine on HN, but it would be difficult to enforce and moderate on reddit.

[1]http://mjtsai.com/blog/2016/04/15/paid-app-store-search/

But a lot of what would make Services profitable isn't necessarily good for the rest of Apple: squeezing people harder to upgrade storage space for pay, paywalling popular features like Find My Phone, or selling iCloud for Android might all make Services look better on paper but hurt Apple as a whole.

Your proposed compromise, if anything, might make Services worse -- take it from someone who's been there, there's nothing more demotivating and worse for productivity than being held responsible for the bottom line while not having any authority to do anything that would improve it.

And if you're not going to hold the Division responsible for its financials, there's no benefit to moving it out of Engineering.