I agree with MacUser, Apple should not produce cheap pieces of crap:

To this [why not cheaper Macs], Jobs astutely replied:

“There are some customers which we choose not to serve. We don’t know how to make a $500 computer that’s not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that. But we can continue to deliver greater and greater value to those customers that we choose to serve and there’s a lot of them. And we’ve seen great success by focusing on certain segments of the market and not trying to be everything to everybody.”

***

But when you’re talking about markets in which the company occupies a niche, it’s better to aim for higher revenues and keep the cash flowing in, instead of lowering the prices and trying to attract those customers who may very well never be convinced to buy a Mac anyway.

Wise words at the Technologizer:

Attempting to reverse-engineer Steve Jobs’ thought processes is a hopeless task that usually leaves you guessing he’ll do the exact opposite of what he ends up doing;

CNET on Steve Jobs:

He also thinks Apple has unique customers, at least as compared to the competition. “I wouldn’t trade our customers for any other customers in the world. We have the smartest, most product-aware customers in the world, and while they might postpone purchases in hard times, they’re not going to abandon us. (They’ll) delay (rather) than switch.”

We love you Steve!!
On BusinessWeek:

A couple of years ago, when Robert Brunner, the onetime industrial design chief at Apple and now head of Ammunition, was teaching a course about the emotional side of design in Stanford’s engineering school, he asked the members of the class to raise their hands if they cared if Motorola went out of business. One person raised his hand. Then he asked who cared if Apple went out of business. Most everybody raised their hands.

From Writers on the Rise, I (heart) Steve Jobs:

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for getting me my first Mac. And thank you, Steve Jobs. If I had to use a PC, life just wouldn’t be the same.

Oh, and here is what we all want to know.

IS STEVE JOBS DEAD??