[QUOTE=ivid;2673011]UTR that genius marketing is backed up by the fact that Apple also make the best hardware, and they essentially invented tablets and smart phones as we know them today.
Price gouging ? Please… OSX is a $29 O/S. [/QUOTE]
There is little need to price gouge on the OS price as they more than makeup for it when purchasing the hardware. Also, Apple does not have the best hardware. Especially with laptops and desktop computers. They have the same run of the mill guts as any PC you can buy for 1/3 the price of an Apple product with the same hardware specs.
As for Apple inventing the tablet and smart phone… pleassssssse. 
Apple just took the idea of others and really came to the tablet arena rather late. Tablets in various forms have been on the market for the past 15-20 years. Apple’s first iPad came out in 2010. Heck, Aurthur C. Clark invented the concept of the modern tablet PC in the movie [U]2001: A Space Odyssey[/U].
As for the smart phones, the IBM Simon was the first smartphone and it came to market in 1993. Let’s not forget the Blackberry, Palm etc. The first iPhone came to market in 2007 and it was a stepping stone just like many other smartphones that have lead up to what we have to choose from today.
[QUOTE=ivid;2673011]Apple hardware is expensive but that is not price gouging. You get what you pay for and Apple make the BEST hardware by far. The higher end Mac Book pro is THE BEST laptop PC for Windows or OSX, hands down. But it costs a fortune. I know this and I don’t even like Macs. I’m about to build a new PC clone so don’t mistake me for a Mac zealot. I just really appreciate their hardware.[/QUOTE]
I think Apple should maximize its profits and charge whatever the market will bare for its products. The fact is that much of Apple’s hardware is the same you can get on any other desktop or laptop computer. In many cases one can get much faster hardware, and just as durable, for half the price of Apple products.
[QUOTE=ivid;2673011] iPads and iPhones were amazing inventions and are rock solid devices. [/QUOTE]
The iPad and iPhone are not Apple inventions. They are products that are variations of products that came before them. Saying Apple invented the smartphone or tablet PC is like saying Toyota invented the automobile. I don’t think Apple sells garbage. I think they sell well thought out products that are geared toward its market base of buyers. I also think their products are way overpriced compared to other alternatives. Even the iPod wasn’t an Apple invention of the digital audio player. It was another spinoff of existing technology and a concept pioneered by others.
[QUOTE=ivid;2673011]Drop or throw an iPhone 5 and Galaxy against a wall and see which one shatters. It wont be the iPhone ![/QUOTE]
I think they both will shatter. 