Comment by mike_hearn

They focused heavily on the quality of things you can see, i.e. slick visuals, high build quality, even fancy cardboard boxes.

Their software quality itself is about average for the tech industry. It's not bad, but not amazing either. It's sufficient for the task and better than their primary competitor (Windows). But, their UI quality is much higher, and that's what people can check quickly with their own eyes and fingers in a shop.