I largely agree with your reasoning, but I emphasized the profit incentives as driving the decision to choose two part tariffs, because I think whatever happens

I largely agree with your reasoning, but I emphasized the profit incentives as driving the decision to choose two part tariffs, because I think whatever happens next will also be driven be these concerns. Firms will also have realized that there are indeed two parts to such pricing schemes, and that is not by accident. If the market can collude on disposable products now, it may be able to do it when everything is a fixed-/variable contract. Why? Well, it simply is profit maximizing, especially for those who have troves of customer data. Indeed, we know that it is only under uncertainty that firms may as well post a single price. Now that we can track all or customers, we surely want a combination of outright sales and variable cost subscriptions. That is, as long as people have heterogeneous preferences for things. Instead of longer lasting cars, I simply expect cleverer and more extractive contracts to become the norm. Perhaps I am too pessimistic, perhaps what you say will come true to some degree. Perhaps we can turn Marx on his had... again. It's not profit that will continue to decline, it's consumer surplus - for many of the same ills.