(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Welcome back to This Week in Stratechery! As a reminder, each week, every Friday, we’re sending out this overview of content in the Stratechery bundle; highlighted links are free for everyone. Additionally, you have complete control over what we send to you. If you don’t want to receive This Week in Stratechery emails (there is no podcast), please uncheck the box in your delivery settings. On that note, here were a few of our favorites this week. Apple as an Object Lesson in Platform Dominance. Ben was writing about Apple and its App Store policies long before it was cool, so there’s no one better positioned to memorialize 15 years of handwringing and controversy now that Apple’s mountain of services revenue is at risk of crumbling. Tech mythologizes platforms and the importance of developers; the reality is that platforms have total control, absent government regulation. See also our discussion on Sharp Tech. — Andrew Sharp A Podcast for Everyone But Celtics Fans. It’s the best time of the year for basketball fans, and even as a grizzled NBA veteran, I’ve been blown away by how much fun the playoffs have been. There are new faces and old, and we’re getting upsets and instant classics on a near-nightly basis. On Thursday the Washington Post’s Ben Golliver and had a great time breaking it all down — including a pair of ghastly Boston Celtics collapses — ahead of a big weekend across the league. — AS A Word About Trade and (Less) Data. Sharp China was created with the vague concept that China was both important and under-covered, which ended up being quite the understatement: Andrew and Bill’s weekly coverage of the trade war is a must-listen for everyone, both in tech and beyond. This week they cover the latest developments, including talks in Switzerland, while managing expectations for any sort of short-term resolution. More generally, one of the reasons Sharp China is essential is because hard data is increasingly sparse; Bill’s point that this hurts China as well was a fascinating one. — Ben Thompson Stratechery Articles and Updates Platform Power Is Underrated — Platforms are so powerful that Apple’s latest court loss won’t change the course of the iPhone; that’s why it’s worth it. Meta Earnings, Meta’s Deteriorating Ad Metrics, CapEx Meta — Meta’s earnings were received positively by investors, but there were definite causes for concern. Microsoft Earnings, Microsoft’s Core Capability, Amazon Earnings — Microsoft and Amazon are approaching AI differently, in ways that reflect their core capabilities. An Interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein About Enterprise AI — An interview with SAP CEO Christian Klein about why one of the oldest software companies of all is well-placed to win with the newest technologies. Dithering with Ben Thompson and Daring Fireball’s John Gruber Asianometry with Jon Yu Sharp China with Andrew Sharp and Sinocism’s Bill Bishop Greatest of All Talk with Andrew Sharp and WaPo’s Ben Golliver Sharp Tech with Andrew Sharp and Ben Thompson This week’s Asianometry video is on the incredible Femtosecond Laser.