Even granting him that WhatsApp and Instagram were indeed savvy purchases, I think it is fair to say that purchasing nascent competitors is no longer a tool available to Facebook. Both because antitrust scrutiny and because those competitors likely don’t fear Facebook’s copycat routine like they once did.
New product launches have indeed gone poorly. This certainly looks terrible to my eyes. Time will tell but skepticism is warranted.
> Sure, if by "works" you mean "only works with other Apple products."
Well, yeah, that is what people mean when they say this. I'm not seeing anyone here make the case that it's worthwhile if you're don't use other Apple products, or that it's not a giant hassle to switch out of Apple products. They just don't care as much about lock in as you.
The parent comment doesn't suggest that the conditions tightened. They are merely calling out that the loosening does not cover this new first party product, and suggests this might not be a coincidence.
As this thread demonstrates, the maneuver was quite successful, if the idea was to give the impression they are becoming less anticompetitive rather than more so!
Not everyone is a poor planner, but deadlines become firm when large marketing spends are deployed, as they are in the gaming industry.