Stop calling it a "walled garden".
It's a "walled prison".
It's a "walled prison".
If you want to move to Android, you'll have to buy a new device and spend maybe $100 on apps, but most services support both platforms. Yes it'll suck to lose that one "killer app", but there's likely alternatives that are almost as good.
Changing ecosystems is always a viable option.
How much more for the everyday person?
Most regular users use a small number of services (Facebook, reddit, whatever) and that will be available across both platforms.
Something like exporting email from one account to another will be more difficult for the regular user, but there's many guides available online. Or more realistically, a nephew to do it for them.
Similarly, I’m sure there are plenty of people who continue going to a McDonald’s drive-thru instead of a competitors’ because they are comfortable with and familiar with the menu. Yeah no one would accuse McDonald of having any amount of “platform” lock in.
Mirrors on the ceiling / The pink champagne on ice
And she said "We are all just prisoners here, of our own device"
And in the master's chambers / They gathered for the feast
They stab it with their steely knives But they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember / I was running for the door
I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
"Relax," said the night man / "We are programmed to receive
You can check-out any time you like / But you can never leave!"