I ranted a bit on this as well on Hackaday http://wp.me/pk3lN-PBv . Apple and Foxconn just have an unimaginable amount of capital. However, I don't think hardware designers should despair. There are many ways to design things, and constraint is the mother of innovation. As the author mentions, it's entirely possible to make products just as appealing with a fraction of the cost.
Great post. I don't normally read Hackaday because I can't stand white-on-black text (there's a reason nobody else does that anymore) but your post and your earlier one from March 7 were well worth it.
