From the Matcha Tea blog comes this fascinating discussion of the influence Japanese culture had on Steve Jobs and, as a result, on Apple and the design of Apple products. Much of this has been discussed before, but this particular paragraph really struck a chord:

Apple enables productivity without requiring it, and this certainly played a role in the popularity of the devices with consumers. While they offer high reliability for business functions, they also offer convenient functionality for personal use. Where Microsoft saw itself rising to dominance partly with the success of its Office suite as being productive in traditional western business roles, Apple saw itself rising due to occupying a special place within culture as a range of devices suited towards normal life.

Well said.

[H/T Catalin Zorzini]