But I don't know anybody who has bought a top end smartphone even now... they all have them as part of a contract so there's no up front hardware cost now... I certainly wouldn't have paid the best part of £500 for my Samsung Galaxy IIS and none of the people I know have paid up front for theirs whether Samsung, Apple or any other...
The real question is whether Apple can continue to come with things that people will want even if they don't know it... after all it was Henry Ford who said that if you asked people what they wanted then it would be longer-lived horses who were stronger and ate less but he built things that they wanted once they existed... like the Model-T and if Apple can continue this path without Jobs then they'll stay around for a long time. One thing is certain, whatever you predict from extrapolations of now, it's not going to happen...
