If the app really is a game changer, if it's that compelling, Apple will absolutely change its tune.
As an example, my girlfriend's a nurse, and they have a really bad paging system. Basically, the doctor calls the hospital reception who calls one person who is on call, who calls the second person on call. Of course, this breaks up regularly: the wrong person is called, or they call their boss because they don't know who is on call, and so on.
I thought I would do a PWA to help them out and learn some new things, but it's pretty much impossible on iOS. Now, if 50% of her team cannot use the app, it has no value. You would have to know who has the app or not and call the other ones. It's easier to just keep on calling directly.
This wasn’t true 10 years ago when Instagram launched, and was iPhone only for a considerable time.
Clubhouse seems to think it’s not true today either, also iPhone only.
iPhone users are, on average, higher earners than the median American [1]. Being iOS only means you get the vast majority of high-income Americans.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/195006/percentage-of-us-...