LOS ANGELES, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Apple has almost accomplished its changeover from a niche computer and software company to a mainstream device maker, but the emerging consumer electronics giant's growing pains began to hurt feelings of its fans.

Some of the loyalists who have made the California-based company so successful lately have turned on the tech star, complaining that the revolutionary company they supported has changed, showing signs of being wrong-headed, shortsighted, and even greedy.

According to a report by the Los Angeles Times Monday, long-time customers say that Apple is starting to remind them of historical rival Microsoft, which in their world is the prototypical soulless, monopolistic machine.

"There is a rise in complaints about Apple's policies and strategic decisions this year, and it seems to be accelerating," John Gruber, writer of the popular technology blog Daring Fireball, told the newspaper.

Observers attribute the increased grousing to growing pains as Apple broadens its horizons to become a major player in consumer electronics, digital music and cell phones.

With is best-selling iPod, the company currently dominates in digital entertainment players with nearly 70 percent of the U.S. market. Its iTunes online store has become the No. 3 U.S. music retailer, after Wal-Mart and Best Buy.

And Apple has sold 1 million iPhones in less than three months after it entered the mobile phone market in June.

But the company's continued push into the mainstream market has come at the cost of goodwill from some of its biggest fans, those who stood in line for hours on the day in June when the iPhone debuted and paid up to 600 dollars to be among the first to own one.

Ironically, the conflict between Apple and its fan base is mostly over control of new products' uses and features. The iPhone, Apple's first mobile phone, has sparked the biggest complaints, as the company chose AT&T as the exclusive service provider.

Many early iPhone buyers lashed out when Apple slashed 200 dollars off the price only two months later, although the company tried to defuse the revolt by giving 100-dollar store credit to those who had paid full price.

And customers have also been complaining about Apple's technological barriers to prevent them from playing music from outside sources on the iPod and running third-party software on the iPhone.