• Elon Musk isn't the first — or necessarily most powerful — exec to take on Apple's App Store fees.

• Industry insiders from developers to CEOs have long decried the 30% fee, dubbed the "App Store tax."

• Lawsuits, regulatory bodies, corporations, and many others have failed to enact much change.

Elon Musk publicly launched a tirade against Apple this week, decrying the iPhone maker's "secret" 30% fee for all in-app transactions on its iOS platform.

While Musk is new to this particular fight, it's part of a war that's been waged in the tech industry for years now: Over the years, everyone from independent app developers to CEOs have decried Apple's "monopolistic" grip over its App Store, requiring the use of its in-house payment processing service.

Still, Musk is arguably the most mainstream public figure to challenge Apple, and his very public stance on the issue shines a light on what had been a relatively niche issue for app-dependent businesses. For Musk, who's stated his intentions to turn Twitter into an "everything app" that rolls social media together with shopping and other forms of online payments, that 30% cut could present a meaningful drag on the business.

"It's a very unique thing to have someone who's also the richest man in the world to have the same problems that a small app developer — that maybe has one or two employees — is also experiencing," said Rick VanMeter, executive director of the industry group Coalition for App Fairness, a frequent critic of the so-called "Apple Tax."

At the same time, Musk's riches and influence may not be enough to turn the tide and get Apple to relent. Over the years, Apple has fended off lawsuits, regulators from around the world, and its peers in the tech industry — none of which had much success in getting Apple to change its approach to in-app payments

But history might not be on the new Twitter owner's side. A high-profile lawsuit, global regulators, and major companies have all tried changing Apple's app payment systems with little success.