I think about this topic often and am also curious, but not an Apple fanboy, unless we end up talking about the 8 and 16 bit 6602, 65816 based computers. :) T

I think about this topic often and am also curious, but not an Apple fanboy, unless we end up talking about the 8 and 16 bit 6602, 65816 based computers. :) The way I see it, Apple has targeted a very specific kind of customer. And these people have a few things in common: Value privacy Value great hardware Willing to recognize and pay for all the ways Apple adds value: packaging, UX, etc... And there are some more, but I feel listing more won't add value here. I do like the Apple M1 computer I own. And I like the older 8 and 16 bit ones too. The reasons are very different with the older machines being open and hackable and the M1 being fast with crazy good battery life given the overall performance. However, I flat out won't own an Apple phone. Too closed down, and the UX is not well aligned with how I prefer to do things. I disagree strongly with many things Apple does and feel their products often are too restrictive. But, I do not have to use anything they make either. Some have argued that Apple has serious lock in on their products. Yep. Except for the computers, I agree! That is why I won't use any of their stuff. Yet lots of people want it that way and Apple delivers it to them and asks those people to pay right up, and those people do pay up and a whole lot of those people are happy having seen good value for their dollar. In my view, Apple gets to do that. And nobody has to like them doing that, right? How is any of it a monopoly? Serious question.