I'm starting to suspect were hitting peak Apple. It feels like they might be pushing in app purchase through apple pay as their means for continued revenue growth rather than product innovation.
The real issue is that Apple has control over its devices after sale. That it decides what they can and cannot run based on its own arbitrary rules that no one can challenge. That it can literally put other companies out of business by denying them the privilege of having an iOS app.
"Apple controls 100% of the iOS software market. This antitrust case is not about phones, instead it's about iOS software, and we shall demonstrate very clearly how Apple are abusing their total monopoly on that particular product."
I've seen this comment repeatedly on this site. Presumably the posters making it don't actually believe we have a world government that rules over all countries, yet they keep making the assumption antitrust rulings happen over world market share.
Personally I think it was right around 2011 or so, maybe continue to coast up afterwards.
My personal favorites were the 2010-2012 mac pro. keyboard on first generation macbook pro with keys that were concave not flat. unibody on later macbook pro - the one with ports and sd card. I will say the iphone peaked for me at the iphone 8, which is relatively recent.
As a regulator. Regulators are there to regulate. Just like when they trashed Microsoft back in the day on IE, and just like when they turned their attention to Google for its practices on the search engines.
Shareholders want to make money. Users do not always have the power to change things, when things are going off the rails and a tilted playing field is forming.