Other manufacturers don't have this working for them.
The opposite is true. Apple doesn't need to make money on software, because their hardware products have healthy profit margins. The iTunes Store breaks even, and it has done so for years. The same is true for the other software Apple sells.
Compared to competing products, Apple's software products are dirt cheap. Its office suite (iWork) is priced at $60 while Microsoft Office is priced at $280. Apple's photography software (Aperture) costs $80, Adobe's Lightroom costs $300. Apple's video editing suite (Final Cut) costs $1000, Avid's Media Composer costs $2300.
Aperture requires a Mac Pro to run properly, which undermines the cost argument.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9150045/Apple_makes_2...