That's actually a valid argument. I disagree (I will concede that they are extremely nice looking products, but in many other ways they are nearly as pitiable as Microsoft products), but it is certainly a valid position to take. And, of course, no one begrudges Apple making money (well, I don't anyway), I just don't think they are a benevolent factor in driving down the cost of computing, which was the original direction of this thread about ultra low cost computing.

Apple have as much motivation for systems to stay expensive as Microsoft does. The lower prices go, the larger the premium becomes for their products vs. one running an Open Source operating system. There certainly are companies pushing the price of computing downward, but Apple is not among them. Apple does, however, occupy a vital role in keeping Microsoft busy on the "expensive but pretty" front, while Asus and others chip away at the low end of the market, eating MS from the bottom...the very same way MS and the PC market ate the mini-computer and mainframe market from the bottom and the way MySQL is eating Oracle's market from the bottom. (I'm picturing Daniel Day Lewis with a really long straw at this point, though I don't know that that is an entirely apt analogy.)