I can see a case being made that a consumer product shouldn't add features that will hurt its main consumers for the benefit of a minority of users. That said, it's reckless and short-sighted to proactively exclude power users.
When someone becomes proficient with your product, guess what they become? A power user. And if you don't have any features to cater to them, do you expect them to be using your product much longer? And once they stop using your product, do you expect anyone else to as well?
I agree wholeheartedly with this idea. Beginners and power users are useful categories but they are too simplistic and polarizing. There are many ways to be a newbie: maybe you're tech-savvy in general, but not familiar with this type of software, maybe you're using it every once in a while, maybe you're overestimating your skills, maybe you're underestimating them, maybe you're hopeless with computers and never going to learn anything.
Now, imagine I am a intermediate user. I started to use your product because it's quite good and simple. But, as I don't like some setting, I open the preferences. What I find is five tabs, cluttered with many options, revealing the choices you couldn't make yourself. I cannot find what I'm looking for and quit the app out of frustration. By trying to cater to everyone, you tend to sweep the complexity under the rug and piss off users who don't fit in your categories.
I can't think of a way to address your points directly, but would you consider the massive sales of the locked and limited iOS devices to be a valid counter example?
When someone becomes proficient with your product, guess what they become? A power user. And if you don't have any features to cater to them, do you expect them to be using your product much longer? And once they stop using your product, do you expect anyone else to as well?