Over priced Apple stuff?

I’ve been having a ongoing debate with Sam and Alice, in regards to how I believe that Apple stuff is expensive.
One would argue that you are paying for quality, design, and innovation. While I will argue that it’s over priced, well designed, but innovative? Maybe when they first started as a computer company. But now, I don’t think that they are more innovitive than their competitors.
I found that their want-to-be-monopolistic ideals prevented them from reaching critical mass early on. Such as preventing 3rd party manufactures from producing compatible hardware for them or along side them. So most people just went for the IBM PCs, and IBM clones. Though, now they’ve changed their turn, as their market shares are in the single digits.
How does Apple compete? By pretty packaging.
I’m serious. They’ve made white cool. I look at the products, and I find them pretty. Look at the iPod, the iMac, the iBooks. They’re all well designed, functional units. Whoever their designer is, is a genius. Not to mention their marketing team.
While Dell has awesome deals, and if we compare feature to feature, Apple is more expensive. And lets not forget about Wal-mart USA, where you can get a computer with lindows/linsphere for the same price as a few cases of good quality beer.
Alice added, that I at least have the option to buy from someone else other than Apple. I could pay Apple some insane amount for ram, or go to a reputable third party, and pay about 1/8th the price. Just as long as the pinout and timing is the same.
Still, I consider it price gouging. But hey, Mac people are strange.
Sort of like how Saturn, and VW people have a cult following towards their cars.
A car salesman at a GM/Buick/Chevy dealer, said that if GM said to have a picknick, maybe 5 people from their thing may show up to the picknic. Now where as a Saturn dealership held something like, they may have hundreds of people. The same would be true to VW folks. It’s a different type of person that buys those cars. It’s NOT bad, just different. And of course not ALL will be like that as well, but a greater amount would be.