> The pc due to being available at the right time for the price
> captured the mass imagination. Apple is a small player in the
> game compared to some pc manufactures. A company like dell
> has a turnover of $100million+ while apple is around $30million.
At last look, Apple was the sixth largest computer company in the world, so
I don't buy that at all. Apple *chooses* to charge a lot for their
computers. There are smaller PC companies that sell much more competitively
priced products.
OK, you're both right. Apple has been known to charge premium prices and never been shy about it. But those Taiwanese companies that make the cheap computers just slap them together and send them out while Apple develops the hardware and software for a unique system with an entirely different architecture based on Motorola and now IBM chips. With 4% of the market, the PC makers have a 25 to 1 scale advantage. Among PC's there are a wide range of quality too.
I didn't mind paying more as long as I got totally the best. To me it was worth it to spend $500 more to have less trouble and more ease of use. Among my PC using friends there are two types - tinkerers who spend a lot of time learning the intricacies, and those who call the tinkerers to help them solve problems. With Mac, there is not that strong of a dichotomy. A clever guy like Kamm who knows PCs well may not get a big advantage out of a mac because he knows the PC well, but there are plenty who do benefit. Just look at the local Best Buy or Frys to see their labor rates for "installing software" and other mundane things.