in almost all cases, what you deliver has no value on its own. it only has value in the context of business operating a certain way. to your apple analogy...

in almost all cases, what you deliver has no value on its own. it only has value in the context of business operating a certain way. to your apple analogy... you might pay $1 whether you eat it or not, but if you had no intention of eating it you wouldn't buy it in the first place. You had some expectation of doing something with it - eating it, cooking it for yourself, cooking it in some other dish to sell to others, etc.