It seems simple enough to me. Over time, these hardware companies grow or die. Their products have to get cheaper, hopefully due to economy of scale. Company

It seems simple enough to me. Over time, these hardware companies grow or die. Their products have to get cheaper, hopefully due to economy of scale. Company management never wants to kill the old products with new ones, plus it's pretty hard to guess exactly where to go. Everyone eventually falls off the treadmill. Years later, of course, management has amazing 20/20 hindsight.