It’s more about market dominance. A temporary advantage in hardware or software can be very important to winning a battle in the overall war. If you can hem your opponent in to a small slice of the market even the best platform goes obsolete very quickly.
Yes, but consider the options in the market for these products. Apple products, while they work well, are obscenely priced over other big manufacturer options (i.e. HP or Dell) or even DIY-ers who build custom machines.