[drawkbox]

Apple lost plain and simple because they were closed market, some things never change. You can get an early lead like that but eventually open systems and open markets win out.

It is all in the numbers. Sure there is MUCH more mediocrity when you open it up, and you can control and only allow the best in a closed market. But in the end the percentage of better systems at the upper threshold of the open system will always beat the best hand picked companies that can participate. One big reason is competition, the other is greed and laziness that comes with that.