[FirmwareBurner]

>It increases salaries for everyone.

Not always and not for everyone. Follow me: Currently there are two players in this space competing for talent, Apple and Massimo. This competition results in higher wages and more innovation. What do you think will happen to wages and innovation if Apple just guts Massimo(or any other company) and now there's only one player on the market, Apple? Now Apple can pay you whatever they want because you have nowhere else to go.

How do I know this? Because years and years ago, two major semiconductor companies had offices in my home town. And workers would get pay raises by jumping ship between the two. A few years ago, one of the bigger corps. bought the other smaller one becoming an even bigger behemoth, so the offices had to merge, leading to layoffs in the name of cutting the redundant jobs and "optimizing efficiency". What do you think happened to the wages at the new giant company? Did they go up or not?

So, I question the thought process of HNers who support that Apple crushing a smaller player out of a market somehow leads to higher salaries for everyone. If you want higher salaries, you need more players in that market, not one giant monopolist. This isn't Apple vs some equal Goliath like Google or Microsoft who can afford to fight fire with fire.