What he means is, having a proprietary connector means they can milk accessory makers with licensing fees.
But I've always struggled to believe that revenue from licencing or direct sales of Lightning connectors is that big a deal to Apple. I think their insistence on using their own connector is more about product differentiation and lock-in than about revenue and performance.
- headphones
- displays
- "gas station" chargers (for when you leave yours at home and just need something cheap)
- memory card readers
These are just the ones I own.
I cant imagine Apple would be risking huge fines for the EU for the 10 people who plug SD cards in to their phone.
And Apple is pushing for new vehicles to use CarPlay wirelessly anyway.
Amazon and eBay are flooded with fakes that can be life threateningly dangerous. I can see why some people prefer to buy from Apple rather than figuring out what brands are actually not going to burn your house down.