tl;dr version: Apple has the volume advantage because it buys a huge amount of flash memory, displays, etc. that it can make products at price points other vendors can't compete with without cutting corners.
This is not accurate and ignores the bottom paragraphs, which are about how companies compete on design and quality in phones whereas they don't do so in PCs, which are more frequently judged based on specs. You can see this when Gruber transitions: "But there’s another major factor at play, which I believe is more important than volume pricing."
The above comment is an example of why you frequently shouldn't trust the "tl;dr version:" those versions are frequently wrong, or they sheer away a sufficient amount of detail as to become wrong.
Also iPod/iOS compete as devices (a la consumer electronics) as opposed to competing as specs (a la PCs), which makes build quality and design much more important.
The above comment is an example of why you frequently shouldn't trust the "tl;dr version:" those versions are frequently wrong, or they sheer away a sufficient amount of detail as to become wrong.