Yeah, I don't think the connector criticism of Apple really stands up to any scrutiny. 30-pin was strictly better than USB-based solutions when it came out, as was Lightning. They supported both of those for a very long time and kept tons of iDevice accessories around the world functioning.
How was USB C on Apple a “mess” when it came out on the iPhone 14? It supported all of the standard USB protocols - video, networking, mass storage, audio etc.
1 year 11 months :)
The old 30-pin connector before Lightning came from 2003.
Meanwhile it took until 2023 for iPhones to use USB-C.