Apple has been extremely influential in consumer tech by refining technology to make it approachable by the common man, starting with the introduction of the Macintosh, and then the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad, Macbook Air, etc.

All of these products have been very successful, I'd say even game changer. Add to that strong marketing campaign, hype and huge margins and this is what you get.

When they get it right, their design, finish and overall build quality are very very good. I think they could do a lot better, but nobody else really is, at least not at scale.

Show me a phone with much better silicon for much cheaper. I'll wait.

Normal, non-developer people prefer their experience, which is all that's needed to command a price premium like they do.

Apple makes their money by being the most successful fashion/luxury goods brand on all time, and in turn, makes nearly all of the profits in their core businesses while controlling a minorty of the market share.

Computer hardware is normally a race to the bottom that only Apple has been able to get around.