The Vive hardware platform was built and designed by HTC for Valve, and the software platform was all Valve. It's more like Google's relationship with partners

The Vive hardware platform was built and designed by HTC for Valve, and the software platform was all Valve. It's more like Google's relationship with partners under the Nexus program, but unlike Google's Pixel line. And yes, Apple design is kind of shit, but in a consumer hostile sort of way, not in an incompetence kind of way.