Then as they clawed their way back from the precipice,
they started "adding value" again.
Compare this with Gmail for example, which has a crummy IMAP implementation, and though the Gmail mobile app supports adding non-Google IMAP accounts, it clearly prioritizes being a Gmail client.
On the hardware side I'm delighted by Apple's USB C/TB push (and Apple contributed a lot to those standards, esp based on what they had learned with Lightning) but note they revived the proprietary "magsafe" connecter on recent laptops (though you can still use USB C PD). Apparently enough customers wanted it.
And as others have pointed out, Apple is hardly alone in this
Magsafe is genuinely a nice innovation that users missed. It solves the cord yank problem. But I do like having the option to use USB-C if I don't have the MagSafe cable.
I'm careful with my stuff though.
Pocket lint -> pushed in USB cable -> after some years the connector wont connect anymore
Actually I just realized I put it in my pocket top-end down. So the usb socket is facing the sky. I suppose that might keep the usb socket further from pocket lint.
At least on many iPhone versions, if anything damages one of the delicate lead springs inside the port, Apple service will tell you to replace the entire phone.
This magnetic thing saved my macbook from numerous falls when people tripped on the power cord.
It was ubiquitous, worked across the whole lineup and for several generations. It is hard to forget that until usb-c, it was commonplace for a manufacturer to have a wide range of power adapters, of varying voltage, power, connector, etc. Apple do their own shit, but they do it consistently.
For another example, Apple Notes was actually just mail messages stored in IMAP, until they decided to deprecate that in favor of another iCloud-backed black box in order to add more features.
Emails as notes sounds pretty clever though.