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I think you are saying Apple is not competitive in places they never really intended to go, the computer and gadget commodities market. That is where the rest are competing and they are welcome to it. It is low profit and low margin based on generic hardware to run the cheapest possible OS. For now that is Linux. It is free.

Because of the many possible configurations and many different component manufacturers it is no wonder that there are frequent problems and short lifespans. The MS Windows OS, originally based on DOS, is generally accepted as easy pickings for those with malevolent intent.

Apple has always had a different game plan, interrupted only when the Jon Scully marketing team ran things, and that did not necessarily include market share. They wanted to and do control everything from HW, SW, Advertising, Packaging, Applications, etc. They are after the best user experience and they can assure that only by controlling everything. The also have outstanding customer service. That costs money but it leads to excellent user experience.

The rest ride in after Apple has proven the viability of a market, copy the product features as best they can, buy the cheapest components to build a replica and then go to market and undercut Apples’s price. However, they are never as good as the Apple product and soon fade from sight. Apple gains market share by default.

I have five Apple products. They are 10, 8, 6, and 2 that are less than 1 year old. All are still performing as they did when new. The rest of my family has new PCs except for iPhones. They know my preference for Macs but they prefer PCs with Windows. They learned computer use at work.

Talking with you in this arena is like talking to a liberal about politics. You and I inhabit different worlds. You state things that are projections, wishful thinking, or just flat wrong. You inhabit a fantasy land.

There is no bigger fantasy land than that inhabited by the Apple fanatics.

And then, it is you that is using the liberal tactic of trying to redefine and confine someone into what they're not, like when they're trying to redefine Sarah Palin, and Glenn Beck, and like they did with Ronald Reagan. With that kind of tactic, it is you that is defining yourself as having the liberal way of thinking.

You can't handle the other side without trying to twist what the other side is saying. You are the one with the closed mind and cannot see beyond the butt-kissing fan-base that propagates the God-like personna that has been attributed to the likes of Steve Jobs and his company in general.

I don't care about a winner or a loser in the technology sector. I care about being practical, and using a product just because it performs and not because of its coolness and novelty and beauty. Whatever works is fine with me.

If some people believe that paying more for something is the way to go, and they feel that they're getting more for their money, then fine. Let them believe it. But, in practical terms, does a Mac really deliver more value for the money than a comparably equipped PC that can perform just as well, and for a lot less money. To me, that's a foolish waste of money. We're talking about PCs and tech gadgets, not houses or high-end automobiles such as a Mercedes or a Rolls-Royce. Some things are meant to be luxury items, but, a computer shouldn't be treated as a luxury item where people are willing to pay perhaps twice as much for something which isn't really any better, and oftentimes ends up being less for twice the money.

I could never justify paying paying twice the money or even slightly more for something that is meant to have a product life of somewhere between 2 and 5 years, which most PCs and tech gadgets are designed for. With new advances each week, what is sold today ends up being obsolete within a few months, and nobody, especially in the smart-phone market, wants to be caught with something that is one or two years older technology. So, why be stupid enough to buy into the hype.

So, exactly what is it that makes a Mac or an iPhone or an iPad superior technology? When the guts of those systems/gadgets aren't really superior technology compared to the competition, why is it that there are people that believe that, just because it's from Apple that they're buying superior products? Apple itself had to go the route of the PC when they decided to use "Intel Inside" for their computers, and most of the other pieces of technology that they have inside of their other gadgets are available to other manufacturers. I would not pay a much higher price for something that is intended to perform as well as other products from other manufacturers, and I wouldn't pay a much higher price for something that is intended to not have a useful life any longer than comparable products; remember that, obsolescence is what Apple and all other manufacturers are counting on in order to continue selling to the same client base. So, you can't convince me that Apple builds a shinier and longer lasting product that people will keep for 5 or 6 years. If that was their intent, they wouldn't continue counting on that same fan-base to sell their "latest and greatest" to.

To me, it's sheer stupidity to pay a lot more for something that is not that much better than the competition.

But, again, I don't really have a dog in this fight. I don't care where my potential customers come from, and I don't care what product they would use to reach what I or others develop. What I develop will look the same to them, and it doesn't matter if they paid $3000 for the Mac or $800 for a comparably equipped PC.

I just find the Mac vs PC debates to be silly and wasteful, and the iPhone vs every other smart-phone battles to be just as silly. Those are just pure nonsensical debates. As you might have imagined by now, I'm just a pure matter-of-fact practical type of person. I don't care how you waste your money or how frugal you are with your money.

I'd just rather not see people wasting their time on these silly debates, and don't believe that is smart to be paying insane prices for somethings that are not really superior products.