The result is that most of the millions of people who buy an iPad mini will never seriously consider any of the alternatives. They know what works for them, and they trust Apple to deliver. That’s the power of the Apple brand. Amazon also has that power — as a retailer, just not, yet, as a hardware manufacturer. Most Amazon customers don’t bother checking prices elsewhere any more: they’ve happily locked themselves in to the relationship.
I’ve said this is before, Apple and Amazon have my credit card on file. If you ignore either, you’re an idiot.