1. Not only were iPhone a niche in the market in pre 2010,
Smartphone itself were a niche. Apple sold more iPhone in its iPhone 11 launch quarter than all of iPhone from 2007 to 2010
combined.
2. iPhone was really, a phone, an internet communicator, and a wide screen iPod. That was arguably true all the way until 2014 when the larger screen iPhone 6 Plus was introduced.
3. But today's Smartphone are more like Pocket Computer. Games, Video Consumption, Facebook. At a point when some people were laughing about phablet. Now vast majority of phones on the planet are phablet. They replaces consumer computing. They are no longer a phone in the sense of phone in 2007.
4. You now have a phone that replaces everything, Smartphone becomes a pocket computer that is the centre of our modern society. Access to everything digital.
5. The problem starts when Apple decided to focus on Services Revenue. Remember before the success of iPhone Plus, people were writing off Apple as their sales number did not grow as much as the Smartphone market. And Wall Street was putting pressure on Apple. Service Revenue was Tim Cook's answer ( or middle finger ) to shut these people up.
6. So Apple start breaking out services revenue, stopped reporting iPhone Unit sales, rework iOS, macOS, Map, iCloud and other cost from their product segment to paying $10 per unit to Services Revenue. And announce their target of Services Revenue by 2020.
7. Apple started enforcing rules on 30% as access fees. If it was coming from iPhone, Apple want 30% of it. It wasn't much of a problem with an App. It is much more problematic with services that use App as access. Wordpress blog, Domain Name, Teaching Class, Video Streaming Site, Creator Selling Digital Asset. Until someone complain, Apple started adding exemption to their rules of collecting 30%.
8. Services Sector works different to products. Software like Pixelmator or Photoshop are Software products. Netflix, or some Cartoon Network are Services. Apple used to turn a blind eye on many of these services. Once they start enforcing it because they had to chase their services revenue target. You start seeing lots of complaining.
9. Why should Apple dictate everything that goes through iPhone? If the world is going digitisation, does that mean everything that goes through iPhone will be charged 30% more? How is that not a tax? When it is Applied the same ( or nearly the same ) everywhere. How is this even sustainable?
10. Customer signing up a Email, when majority of cost are in Server. Or Signing a Real Person tutoring, where the cost is the Teacher in front of Screen. Why does Apple demand 30% of it? And how did this 30% number came from for their industry?
11. Lots of argument about Apple wrongly focus on consumer and completely ignore business. SMB are still large part of our society. And they are complaining just as much as big companies like Netflix or Spotify.
12. It is made worst when COVID hit, it speed up the whole digitisation of our society by at least 5 years if not 10 years. Explosive growth in e-commerce and other Digital goods or services. Why is it so hard to deal with Apple?
13. And they are not a niche anymore, they have anywhere from 20% to over 60% in key markets. Despite Tim Cook flat out lie about this. ( His likely defence is the term Market Share could be defined as Unit Sales and not unit usage ). And despite court doesn't like to define market themselves, if iPhone's owner are higher spending group and vast majority of your customer are iPhone customer, is that 30% an abuse of their market power?