“And if there is a cost savings, apparently Apple is not passing this savings on to the consumer because that would be reflected in a lower unit cost which I am not seeing.”
I believe the only reason to lower cost is to compete when your product is an interchangeable commodity. The market sorts those issues out fairly well - paying or not paying as they see value.
“Also, it would be hard to believe consumers (or businesses) switching from low cost Windows laptops to very expensive Apple laptops.”
I think we agree there. Obviously some must be doing so, since IBM has partnered with Apple on some things.
But clearly there is an effort to win business away from the windows platform. See your previous examples and references. Then again, maybe not if Apple is not willing to price their computers competitively to win said business.
It sounds like Apple really isn't interested in gaining market share. Interestingly, this has always been their business model — high end, expensive computers and low market share.
However, without their music player business, how long would Apple be able to sustain this business model. Probably not long and on the same scale. How well was Apple doing before the introduction of the Ipod?
This is all moot since their music player business is doing very well.