[xyzzy_plugh]

Apple has a significant lead in manufacturing, at the very least. I haven't been in the CE industry in several years, but when I was, they frequently bought out entire lines of new tooling equipment with exclusive multi-year contracts. They literally have some of the most advanced, bleeding-edge tooling in existence. It's very, very difficult to compete with their fabrication abilities.

Combined with their market position, huge margins, decent but good looking software and UX, it's incredibly hard to catch up to them.

Apple has a decade-long lead in wearables because there is no competition at their luxury price point in a luxury device ecosystem like the iPhone. To catch up, first you'd have to defeat the iPhone, meanwhile develop and then unleash a wearable all of your customers also want, and somehow make money doing so. It's a tall task.