But, if you don’t like the offerings; there are a plethora of cheaper products from literally hundreds of other competitors.
People pay a premium for Apple, usually for a reason. Apple products tend to last longer, they tend to be built to a higher standard (and that costs money). Like most things in life; nice things cost more than commodity products.
On the other hand, the price you pay for something has a lot to do with how well you take care of it.
Apple has limited hardware offerings and a very narrow base. It is still a boutique offering except in phones.
iTunes is a classic example of staying with a paradigm too long. We’ll see how well they do with ioT.
About the only move they’ve made with openness is Swift. Swift was several years too late to make the impact they hoped. Apple has always treated software as the readheaded step child. They stuck with Obj-C far, far too long.