AI software generation overcomes the Apple App Store lock-in moat
Evan Spiegel · What comes after smartphones, with Evan Spiegel of Snap · Apr 27, 2026 · at 19:50
Snap CEO Evan Spiegel argues that AI-assisted software generation eliminates the traditional barrier to new computing platforms competing against Apple's App Store moat.
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“So I think you know, I think the entire engineering paradigm, the way that software is built now enables you know, a totally different way of thinking about specs and about our platform. And frankly, overcomes the biggest hurdle that we were facing, which was the app store, Lock in and moat, right? I mean, that's always been the biggest questions people have asked about a new computing platform. How are you going to overcome the one million apps or two million apps on the app store, you know, that are locked into the Apple ecosystem? Today, it's so easy to write software.”
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