> Apple doesn't have to do much to appeal to the mass market of people that purchase their products.
Of course they do. They're not selling $20 pairs of jeans, here. They're selling expensive stuff that requires a conscious decision to purchase. Apple needs to provide a compelling case to move their product. It's not practical to buy something just because it's from Apple. It has to actually do something for you as a user.
> Apple has very good PR.
This line is exhausting. Apple has very good products. The great marketing and PR is a result of having very good products.
You can't sell 15 million units of a brand new, $500 product in nine months on the strength of TV ads and magazine pieces. It has to actually work well. There may be an initial element of brand trust to grease the skids for launch but sustained sales require something real.
My parents aren't Apple fans. They're not nerds. They spend a lot of time frustrated with technology. They're nuts about their iPad because it works really well. That's it. Adding a USB port isn't going to make them like it better. It's going to make it more complex, which is going to degrade their experience in using it.
"Oh, well, that whole 12 hour battery thing? Doesn't count if you use the USB port. Then it's something else."
"What? Why?"
"USB uses power."
"Why?"
etc.
> Pointing to large sales numbers as a counter-argument to criticism is just plain silly.
You continue to miss the point. The criticism isn't valid. Apple has sold a shitload of iPads on the strength of its simplicity. You're talking about making it less simple. In that case, its success is more than ample refutation of your assertion that adding junk to its spec list is going to somehow improve things.
It's like saying, around 1950 "Hey, turn the automobile into a Rhinoceros – then it'll be able to hit things with its horns."
"But people don't buy cars to do that. Look how well they're selling."
"Sales are not a valid refutation of my criticism that cars have no horns to hit things with!"
etc.
But like I said: Chalking it all up to clever marketing, instead of painstaking investments in software design, hardware fabrication and supply chain optimization is how everyone else keeps dropping the ball while Apple sprints all the way to the bank year after year.