I would also challenge that notion and say that limited choice is why there has been a surge in Apple's popularity while Dell/HP struggle to keep their cards in

I would also challenge that notion and say that limited choice is why there has been a surge in Apple's popularity while Dell/HP struggle to keep their cards in order. I'd also reference the US automotive industry as another point of failure with too much choice. For success stories, look at the gaming industry and what closed-platforms (Xbox, PS3, Wii.) has done for it. While it still costs a lot of money, developers are not losing money on warez, or fighting the pains of QA across 1,000,000's of hardware configurations. Apple is a consumers line of technology... and thanks to open-platforms in the 90s/00s, hardware is now practically a commodity. 90% of the smart phone buyers don't give a shit about choice... they just want the best. Additionally, <puts on monkey suit> Developers! Developers! Developers! What I love about Apple is that a small team can launch a product (worldwide, 75 countries, 7 currencies) and not be burden by QA/hardware configurations. Not to mention, how many millions of customers already have their credit cards on file? Millions of devices. Millions of consumers. As soon as the Android is available on 20 different configurations, indie developers will struggle and teams of 5-15 will be required to ship a product accessible by the entire Android market.