Google was the biggest search engine long before it ever advertised itself. Amazon was the biggest online retailer long before it ever advertised itself. Both of them still only do so very sparingly.
The "we don't do marketing" thing is both unnecessarily extremist and usually a lie. See Square for a very recent example.
So, marketing is also something you need when your competitors spend more on that than in product development. Because if they spent in developing better products, you'd have to relocate your marketing resources into building some real value.
Also, Apple is expanding its business with its two app stores and pay for content revenue streams, so, we should expect large marketing expenditures to increase market awareness.
Oh. And before I forget, deciding whether you'll make a great product or a crappy-but-adequate one (or even one so crappy people are embarrassed to admit they bought it) is also part - and an important one - of your marketing strategy.
Was it? I really can't remember how I first heard of Amazon, but I do remember some TV ads fairly early in its existence.