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This is monopoly 101. That’s why the US broke up Standard Oil.
Do you really believe products win because they’re the best? I’d strongly argue that monopolistic power and loss-leading VC investment is what drives success.
This was the first example that comes to mind. And hardware wise I would argue the iPhone is the best phone because so many people buy it compared to other alternatives. And I don't believe for a second people buy because iMessage.
Theres no choice if all your friends are on a network that's not interoperable.
Sorry, but these companies spend much more effort on making sure their product is walled off and incompatible with everything than giving it any actual quality.
You think Whatsapp for example is this lightweight and easy to use on basically any phone because no one spent a dime on some R&D on how to make it the way it is?
There could be some arguments made somewhere as to where R&D money could go, perhaps somewhere in the backbone that billions could use, but the UI is not it.
All that said, I don't know how it furthers your initial argument exactly, as the DMA "beneficiaries" benefit from this lightweightness in zero percent. If anything, it's a negative, because one could assume they have to do better than that with what they're offering.