We wish for "mixed tech" bundles (aka: The Anti-Apple Alliance)

Great cuddler, better bundler... Claaassic Hinge profile of Big Techies, from Apple to Adobe. Since Microsoft Office launched in 1990, software bundles have been the M.O. of tech heavyweights. Bundling = selling multiple services together for one price — generally, lower than they would cost individually. That's bad for smaller companies whose entire biz happens to be.... one of those services.

• Apple: In September, the Fruit launched its "Apple One" bundles. The premium tier includes Apple Music, TV+, iCloud storage, and Fitness+ all for $30/month. That's a bundle of bad news for Spotify, Netflix, Dropbox, and Peloton (in that order).
• Microsoft: The Office 365 Suite bundles classics like Word, Excel, and (more recently) collaboration tool Teams. In July, Slack stirred up legal drama since the Teams bundle makes Slack basically unnecessary for companies that use Office. BTW: Slack is now getting purchased by notorious bundler Salesforce (ironic).

Sliding into the DMs with that blue chipmark... Wall Street flex. "Blue chip" tech companies can afford to bundle and undercut competitors on price. Last fiscal year, Microsoft made a massive $44B profit, while Apple took home a whopping $57B. But with great power comes great regulatory scrutiny: In 2020, Big Tech lawsuits and congressional hearings were as common as Baby Yoda memes (and way less cute). One thing could ease that...