... And it keeps us loyal customers, loyal.
Originally Posted by
Booglebox
... and the hardware is overpriced which helps recoup the development cost of the OS.
From:
Apple CEO Explains Why Apple's Products Are So Expensive (Sort Of)
But Cook also addressed a question that most consumers find themselves asking regularly: Why are Apple products so expensive?
His answer -- that Apple doesn't want to sacrifice quality for price -- served mainly to reinforce his argument that Apple values great products over all else. (In typical Apple fashion, he made some half-dozen references to Apple's "magic" or "magical" products.) Yet he also suggested that Apple's innovation and product pipeline is driven at least in part by an effort to produce new gadgets at lower price-levels.
"Instead of saying, 'How can we cheapen the iPod to get it lower?' We ask, 'How can we do a great product and do it at a cost that enables us to sell it at the low price of $49?'" he explained.
Cook noted that tech observers wondered for "years" why Apple didn't offer a Mac for under $1000.
"Frankly we worked on that, but we concluded that we couldn't do a great product. And so we didn't. But what we did do is we invented the iPad," Cook explained. "Now all of a sudden we have an incredible experience that starts at $329. Sometimes you can take the issue or way you might look at an issue and solve it in different ways."
Instead of offering a cheap laptop, in other words, Apple made an expensive tablet.