Figuring out how to scale is not just a part of a storage startup, it's the whole thing.
Apple created something people wanted and sold at a price that would still make money if it was assembled by hand. They didn't form a company around a commodity like data storage.
Data storage is a commodity. Everyone already has some, online storage companies already exist. If you don't know how to store a lot of data and your company's whole purpose is to store a lot of data, it sounds like something that should have been worked out before making the company.
Apple created something people wanted and sold at a price that would still make money if it was assembled by hand. They didn't form a company around a commodity like data storage.
Data storage is a commodity. Everyone already has some, online storage companies already exist. If you don't know how to store a lot of data and your company's whole purpose is to store a lot of data, it sounds like something that should have been worked out before making the company.