VCs are not there, and probably never will be, but they dream of it, as some of their self-aggrandizing visionary guru posturing can attest.
(Unless they didn't actually do that work and just white-labelled some chips from another firm)
"We put out manuals that had just hundreds of pages of listings of code, descriptions of circuits, examples of boards that you would plug in—so that anyone could look at this and say, “Now I know how I would do my own.” They could type in the programs on their own Apple II and then see “that’s how that works” instantly, and know how to write their own programs.
Running cards was the most important thing. All these companies started up making cards that you could plug into your Apple II and write a little software (mostly games at first) on cassette tapes. You’d go to the store and they’d just have all this stuff that you could buy to enhance the Apple II.
So one of our big keys to success was that we were very open. There’s a big world out there for other people to come and join us."
Steve Wozniak in "Founders at Work" by Jessica Livingston.
Anything that Apple approves of allowing you to do.
There are ample sources, and lawsuits, disagreeing with your argument.
"Josh Begley, a graduate student at New York University, developed Drones+ to provide up-to-date information on strikes, using reports collated by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism – an organisation that tracks the use of unmanned CIA aircrafts. But repeated attempts to get Apple to offer the software at its app store have been fruitless. At first, Begley was informed that the program – which he hoped would raise awareness of the growing death toll from drone strikes – was "not useful" enough and did not appeal to a "broad enough audience".
The company position has since shifted, but only in the reasoning behind its refusal to stock Drones+. In the latest rejection email, Apple reportedly informed him: "We found that your app contains content that many audiences would find objectionable, which is not in compliance with the app store review guidelines.""
https://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2012/08/31/the-prob...
And let's not forget the anti-repair, closed hardware.
[1] Right-to-Repair Groups Don't Buy Apple’s Answers to Congress https://www.wired.com/story/right-to-repair-apple-answers-co...
[2] "Apple even created a special screw specifically to make it hard to repair the iPhone". https://www.ifixit.com/Right-to-Repair/Intro
I too miss the days when the computer was something you could just hack around on for hours, plug various things in and make a business out of it.
Unfortunately we're a long way away from those days.
That Apple ][ was never going to get the market penetration of an iPhone or an iPad. And that Market is what Apple is chasing today and where their focus is.
The market that the Apple ][ played in is basically the same as the one for the Raspberry Pi today. If you're looking for that experience, that's where you'll find it.
Apple sells products with the edges filed off (both literally and metaphorically) for the masses.
Oh yes! "In the famous Apple v. Samsung lawsuit, Apple even claimed ownership of geometric shapes such as rectangles with rounded corners", Ugo Pagano
That's trivially verified by watching which of their competitors is licensing just as good custom silicon from the same firm, achieving similar performance/Wh. And it's nobody AFAIK.
- You are thought of as a leader - You get to invest in better companies because they know/want you - The better companies outperform, because they were better - You are increasingly thought of as a leader - You get to invest in better companies... etc.
The marketing angle is increasingly a way to get onto (and sustain your place on) this carousel.
Fwiw it also isn't just silicon valley at this point, the funding patterns increasingly hold across much of north america.
Everyone has ideas for companies that can be worth millions. But the current orthodoxy around VC economics balk if your game plan is to be a 50M sale. Either you make the big time, or you can be a tax write off when you fail. A "moderate" success won't pay the Limited Partners back at the end of the 10 year vesting cycle the billions the put in at the start.
There is much less money for someone who wants to create a a dating site for people with food allergies.