[eldude]

Not to get unnecessarily political, but there is almost certainly an analogy to be drawn here to American federalism and the state v. federal government interplay on behalf of their citizens.

Taking the analogy further, the App Store trend is analogous to the 17th amendment[1] superseding the states' right to appoint senators. The relevant implication being that tribal power inevitably gravitates toward centralization on behalf of the "user."

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeenth_Amendment_to_the...