I'm still not seeing the threat. What I am seeing is eBay is being upfront by telling you that embedding pictures in the text area might not be compatible with all mobile devices.
I am speculating that over time eBay will take this "upfront" news to eventually eliminate the opportunity to place pictures within HTML and at that point (or some point forward) start charging for each picture one wants to put in place. At a dime or fifteen cents at a pic this could add up to significant dollars in income for them.
I say this because every change (IMO) eBay makes benefits eBay (and/or buyers) more than it could ever benefit sellers.
Another case in point is the recent (in the last month or so) elimination of discounts to sellers who do NOT post in their listings that said sellers will accept returns (unconditionally IMO) within 14 days of a sale AND that sellers must ALSO ship within one day of a sale being paid for.
While I am a power seller and a top rated seller it means very little any more except for the fact that some buyers will attach some importance to the fact that a seller has a 100% feedback rating. No discounts on final fees unless you abide by the two conditions indicated in the paragraph above.
To those who will respond "one day shipping isn't a problem for me" or "I haven't had any problems with 14 day return" that's great, but the first time it happens to you (as discussed in another thread) you might have a different feeling about it.
eBay is wonderful for the exposure it provides to an item for sale, but it's not perfect and over the last few years it has not been kind to sellers. What kind of feedback can a seller leave for a buyer? The answer is either positive or none. A seller can not leave neutral or negative feedback for a buyer.
Years ago I received a negative feedback for a Princess House item I sold. The buyer said it wasn't Princess House though it was shipped in its original PH box and had the PH pattern in the glass. That negative feedback stayed with me for 1 solid year until it cleared out. At that time I was able to give the buyer negative feedback as well. Now, 7 years later, my feedback has gone from 100 or so (then) to almost 1,000 now (not a lot, but I'm happy with it). Meanwhile the person who left me the negative STILL has 10 feedback and they are ALL as a buyer.
eBay knows they have a captive audience and can pretty much do what they want, but when a big company like that says (in essence) "You don't like it go somewhere else" I think that's a problem...a philosophical one perhaps, but still a problem.