[rimantas]

Apple is fundamentally a different kind of company than almost all other software or hardware companies.

I was just reading this today (it's not fresh, I just got around to read it finaly): http://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/publications/magazine/6/4/...

[InclinedPlane]

I don't think it's necessary to be exactly like Apple to compete successfully against them. However, there are so few companies in the software industry that manage to demonstrate Apple's rare combination of talents that there really is no other model for how to do it.

Also, the perception of Apple as being exceptional and unique is greatly aided by the generally dysfunctional state of the entire industry in general.