It is a very precise statement you made! (Managers at MS shall realize how to conform the customers)!
I am not an Apple user, and using Windows only on my corporate notebook - I still vote for LINUX over all, but I always admitted that Apple's marketing strategy, vision and implementations are "just cool and sexy", a.k.a. superior to Microsoft if viewed from customer perspective. It is foolish to argue that iPad didn't blew the market because it did - even with no real ground breaking tech specs, but with how Apple marketed it to customers, and yes, with all the things said before in this thread (ease of use, price, etc.)
However Apple won the first battle, there are several strong upcoming competitors (like Notion Ink with their ADAM).
I hope the race between the big boys (Apple, MS, Samsung, etc) and the upcomers (like Notion Ink) will be tough, and it will result in more and more value to the customers, by releasing products that focus on what the users really need!