Contrary to what some designers and marketers (not you, right?) will tell you, Apple is not evidence that design is everything. Apple is evidence that it depends.
Yes, people still line up around the block every time Apple releases anything. Yes, Apple has done fantastic things for design in general and user experience in particular. (I type this on an Apple laptop.) Yes, customers are willing to pay premium prices for Apple products. That does not, however, mean everyone is willing to pay premium for high end design, and it does not mean that design is now somehow more important than function.
Apple sells a high-end product to a market segment that is willing to pay for a high-end product. There is nothing new about this. Here's the important thing I want to get across: Its products would not fetch such a premium, and have such a large and devoted fan base, if they were all slick looks and no substance. This is not a case of people forking over their hard-earned cash just because the product looks good. Apple has always put a lot of effort into the function of its devices. That is why they're good.
Think about cars. A Chevy Cobalt is an honest design — it looks like the economy car that it is. An Audi S5 is also an honest design, because it looks like the premium import that it is. Dress that Chevy to look like the Audi, and you have a counterfeit, a dishonest design. Word travels, and people know. You could sell a product on slick design alone to some people some of the time, but it's not going to fetch a premium for long, and you're not coming out smelling like roses.
