They're a hardware company that made trillions of dollars selling hardware. "Commoditize your Compliment" is one of the oldest business strategies out there.

their share of income from services and subscriptions has been increasing steadily year over year, i think they're interested in keeping that growth

What do you think the word democratize means, exactly? It's a serious question.

Here's what I think it does not mean: walled gardens, vendor lock in, closed source, subversion of interoperability.

A hardware company whose strongest gross margins come from services and has been trending in that direction for over a decade. Heck, if trends continue, their margins and profits might be predominantly services based in the not to distant future.