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And they would make so little money and go out of business.

Apple's not a software vendor. OS X is nice, yes, but it's a value-add to entice you to buy physical devices from them.

Apple thinks they are a hardware vendor, but their users just want the UI software. When clone vendors were allowed to sell MacOS with near-commodity hardware, users promptly abandoned Apple's outrageous boutique hardware and flocked to the clones. Now Apple sells near-commodity hardware with just enough custom junk to screw tinkerers (e.g., you still can't buy a motherboard up the street).

I'd agree if it were still the mid 90s but it's 2010 — Apple Computer Inc are now Apple Inc, a major OS X release has been stunted by a phone and an update of their laptops has been pushed aside for the release of a tablet. Apple are a hardware vendor but I don't think their users focus on computers anymore, hence nor do they.

How is Apple doing it? Microsoft even did not get away with IE with Windows.

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