It's not about apps being worse, but about good apps are difficult to discover. Now, the conditions are that if you have larger budget, you are considered better for major platforms. That's the real problem.
There is a problem with apps, but we should look at it from another angle. We all know that in the app store and play market popular apps become more popular over time and it is difficult for smaller companies to promote their products even if their solution is better.
App market is now a market of couple dozens of apps that make up the most amount of revenue.
For small developers, there is a too little chance to be seen at all.
Actually, the whole article makes sense. Nowadays, we all see that it's difficult for small startups to promote themselves. The privilege on major platforms is given to those who pay more(ex: Google). Even if one company gains enough traction and begins to become successful, another larger corporation buys it (in best case) or makes everything to not let small competitor get larger market share. That'a a very big problem that if not solved will result in a slower progress rate.
Not looking at this part, the whole article makes sense. Nowadays, we all see that it's difficult for small startups to promote themselves. The privilege on major platforms is given to those who pay more(ex: Google). Even if one company gains enough traction and begins to become successful, another larger corporation buys it (in best case) or makes everything to not let it get larger market share.
Thus, "big guys" now are a barrier on our way to progress.
Of course market demand and other factors matter but the point of this article is that large tech companies are now a barrier on the way of small startups to their success.
We all see that now, most startups fail and even if some of them gain some traction, they are being bought by big guys.
And one of the main causes of that is the outdated nature of large corporations. Nowadays, one of the main platforms to promote your company is Google. However, google advertising is good for those who pay more. Thus, companies with more cash have a privilege over smaller companies even if the second ones do their job better.
And that's only one example with one large corporation.
To conclude, big guys, which were praised by the whole tech community all the time are now a barrier on our road to progress.
It's good and all, but I'm not sure that this will give much better results. Investing this amount of money in old ed system will give the same output.
That's not an example of smart money.
P.S. I don't want to be hater or something but I think that he could do much more with his resources. Maybe something like Ad Astra of Elon Musk.