“When Warm Campfires Turn Into Witch Burning Sessions:” So Long, Farewell, Goodbye.

A note from Tommo_UK:

After seven years of contributing long-form analysis and original pieces to Apple 3.0 — all of which were exclusive and not published or submitted anywhere else, I’ve been “terminated“ by Executive Order. You can read Philip’s rationale further Down, but remember we’ve known one another for 15-20 years in one way or another and I didn’t end up posting on 3.0 or stay here this long by accident. While my posts were different in style and tone, and ranged from informed rants to expertly vested analysis and forecasting. They all aimed to be informative, analytical and drawn on decades of personal experience and investing in AAPL and my own journey with the company, not for my benefit but other investors.

When Philip started first writing about Apple,

I was one of the first early adopters of a Macintosh running PageMaker 1.0 to use desktop publishing to produce my own magazine as a teenager, from my bedroom, and send it to print. This isn’t my first rodeo or his, but this is the first time I’ve ever been disinvited for … writing too much, and having my work called of negligible value. So today, I received an email! I’ve been formally disinvited. Not for rudeness or inaccuracy, but for “getting a free ride” and being told “It’s time to pay your way.”

Excuse me but contributing free daily content, by invitation,

And being asked to colaborate on articles and projects, seems to be more of a favour done for free, by me, than benefitting from a free ride. I’ve never had a paywall site for an article blogroll that’s a glorified RSS feed after all. What I did do was provide micro and macro and longer-term analysis which invariably proved correct, however it may have sounded disagreeable to some at the time. That, I was told, was my value: helping make a blogroll site a high signal site by lending my expert knowledge for free, not just my opinion. There’s an enormous difference.

The deal was he was getting a free ride off my analysis, hence the quid pro quo sub. So when all the thanks I get is a summary dismissal and asked to return “if it’s still of interest“ to me, colour me perplexed, and bemused.

Editorin Chief’s note:

The decision to part ways wasn’t mutual. After seven years contributing content, commentary, and analysis — some of which was published as features — I was informed out of the blue I’d been receiving a “free ride,” and my access was revoked accordingly and immediately, unless I want to pay to carry on commenting and providing content for free (it was his invitation after all, which drew me to 3.0 as a commentator and contributor, not a request by me to to sign up).

So with no regrets just sadness at yet another round of petty snark getting in the way of a pleasant life, I’m declining, because the echo chamber is now deafening from the pulpit to His Master’s Voice itself.

Here’s the “value ticket” Philip kindly set me as proof I’m not worthy. I shall now go and cover myself in ash and walk backwards out of the Church self-flaggelating. I’m unsure how his algorithm arrived at $0 value, but maybe he’s integrated a Rottweiler GPT data analyst as his new guide to fame and fortune for.. Apple 4.0?

So that “Free Ride” Philip enjoyed, was already at my expense (willingly) to participate in intelligent discussion with people I respected and have enjoyed talking to over the years - but as an expert commentator and analyst on 3.0, not a subscriber - and included 100s articles, daily comment replies, and hours of unpaid engagement every week - sometime every day - which until about April this year when Apple collapsed as I’d predicted, seemed to be welcome signal. Philip even increased the character count from 3000 to 5000 to accommodate longer posts.

I never asked for a byline — just a conversation.
 When the wind changed this year and sensing a change of mood in the air after listening to one one lecture too many, I launched tommo.fyi because I saw the temperature rising amidst blood running in the streets from Trump’s Tariff Tantrums. It seems Trump wasn’t the only person having a tantrum as voices escalated in denial of debate instead of embracing it and entrenched positions morphed in wartime dugouts.

The line between insight and ideology became sharp. Dissent — even from someone who like me had contributed consistently and constructively for years (and 15 years on other sites) and asking for nothing because I have always believed in the democratisation of information and insight — was no longer welcome.

So to those still interested in real analysis, thoughtful disagreement, and the occasional satirical cow: this is where I’ll be. No subscription required. At least not until I can think of a bloody good reason for one that makes my all-original weekly work worth paying for. I don’t want to charge for re-linked article blogroll you can get for free by an RSS newsfeed, and without a snarky short “My Take” on the end.

if you’re reading this online, see the share buttons? Please use them and help keep this site free. If you’re reading this email, just forward it to your friends or colleagues and tell them its all free all the time for long-form original content.

Bring your thinking cap — or don’t. You’ll be welcome if you care to follow or participate, and won’t be missed if you don’t. Tommo_UK has departed Apple 3.0. I have no intention of paying to participate behind a paywall, while the .fyi cow has no gate and welcomes all, with high-signal free content. And after Philip’s last cock-up of a mea culpa, I’ve advised him that quoting or linking to my content is disallowed.

As Douglas Adams wrote about the dolphins leaving earth when it was scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass,

“So long, and thanks for all the fish.”

— Tommo, London, 4st August 2025 | X: @tommo_uk | Linkedin: Tommo UK