[fohlin]

You just described the core of the analogy: experience.

There are many cases where I and others choose much more expensive applications to which there are fine inexpensive (or free) alternatives. Just knowing the amount of “unnecessary” design or development work may be enough to increase pleasure of use.

Of course, the extra work may also have directly beneficial effects, functional, esthetic, or otherwise. Fine dining tends to be tasty.

[ctdonath]

Agreed. Plenty of free programs do the job, but "costs" one way or another (ex.: ads). I'll pay (more) for programs which improve the experience by not distracting me with ads or irritating user interfaces (looking at you SONY). I'm old enough to start realizing life is finite; better to pay more for a good experience on top of getting something done (be it remote data access or topping off my nutrition for the day).

The short answer: it's why Apple is making boatloads of cash. "But you can get an equivalent machine for a fraction of the price!" arguments abound; nonetheless, its that "fine dining" attention to detail which rakes in tens of billions of $$$ profit per quarter.