Put another way: Vertical is a great way to realize a very specific vision for something, but it's a huge impediment to getting majority market share. Done pro

Put another way: Vertical is a great way to realize a very specific vision for something, but it's a huge impediment to getting majority market share. Done properly though, you can do things your more horizontal competitors simply can't. It can be quite profitable but it won't be for everyone (Mac). The danger is that there's a higher bar that needs to be reached in order to pull it off. You can't assume that third party hardware or software vendors are going to jump on board to add value to your platform. Horizontal is a great way to insert yourself into a preexisting market, help create a new market, and maybe even get a monopoly on your layer of the stack (Windows). This can also be very profitable. You still can't be everything to everyone, but you can get much closer to that goal. The downside is that being everything to everyone is not always a desirable goal, but now you're stuck with it, because otherwise what's the point of going horizontal? You need your layer to be as general-purpose as possible in order to maximize third-party involvement in the layers above and below you.