I don't think he means "costs" in the economic sense (i.e., more money regarding hosting costs), but a more general idea of cost. A guess: He claims that Apple'

I don't think he means "costs" in the economic sense (i.e., more money regarding hosting costs), but a more general idea of cost. A guess: He claims that Apple's business is based on selling expensive stuff to a wealthy audience with lots of disposable income. By making its products more exclusive (that is, less open) Apple can get more money out of them. Selling cheap iWatches, in contrast, would be more open but would "cheapen" the brand, meaning they would lose status (and eventually money) in the long run. As the "insulting your customers" bit, I'm not sure someone would qualify as such before actually paying for the product. If anything, the actual customers (those that paid for the book) come out of this post proud of themselves, which I find pretty clever.