<i>A better comparison is with the Nintendo Wii. While Sony and Microsoft competed in the cut-throat market of consoles for gamers, the Wii also created a new product category: consoles for everyone else. It worked pretty well for them – it turns out that there’s a lot more non-gamers than gamers, and making a device that appeals to 95% of the population sells better than making one that appeals to only 5%.</i><p>Daniel hit the nail on the head.  The industry has been tending towards making high-spec machines while often neglecting human interface issues.  People complain that all of this email/booting up/installing/URL stuff was too complicated, and we techies blamed them and told them to RTFM.<p>In the meantime, others directly address their concerns, and <i>surprise</i> -- people give them money.