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They have no incentive to keep themselves honest.

I have worked on a music streaming service for a while and our iOS app was a big pain. We often had months long gaps where we were unable to get an update published.

The good thing about Google being this unfocused is that they are unable to do even think about doing the same and favor Play Music or whatever they are calling it now .. again, they are not strong on focus.

I kinda hope that at some point publishing an app will be considered an utility so it can't be so easily gamed by the platform owner.

They should, they won't, and either they won't be successful with services, or they will, and it will lead to an anti-trust lawsuit. But the company is just too big to move the needle any other way.

If Apple's going to be a services company now, wouldn't it be great if they kept themselves honest (and their products great) by honoring a level playing field for the services they compete with e.g. Spotify?

I think this sentence speaks for itself. Apple's record on whether they will discourage competitors on their own turf speaks for itself.

Maps was a wakeup call for them, it'd be cool if they lit a fire like that across the board for their products.

True, but the tendency is for people and companies to push it out of their minds as an "aberration" and refuse to learn a thing.