This is really about asymmetric competition. @asymco does a great job analyzing this; that Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, while competitors have fundamentally different business models.
Even if these companies had similar business models to Apple, they would be insane to try to complete with Apple on Apple's terms. This is why Microsoft is not really becoming a hardware company[1] and why Amazon is focusing on 'services' (what I call 'experiences')[2].
Even if these companies had similar business models to Apple, they would be insane to try to complete with Apple on Apple's terms. This is why Microsoft is not really becoming a hardware company[1] and why Amazon is focusing on 'services' (what I call 'experiences')[2].
[1] http://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/07/25/a-mouse-and-keyboard-don...
[2] http://ceklog.kindel.com/2012/06/07/wanna-compete-with-apple...