Actually I think N-Gage was the point at which they slipped. It was a device where neither the hardware nor software was up to the job of providing the very proposition upon which N-Gage was marketed. The hardware wasn't there, the development tools weren't there, the distribution platform wasn't there, none of it.
Apple *always* waits until they can implement without compromise, and they've demonstrated that they're not afraid to leave things out until they can be done properly, the big example being cut and paste, but also the whole SDK thing. It makes me chuckle when I hear people claiming that Apple only shipped an SDK because of developer unrest, as though something like Xcode for iOS could have been created from scratch in such a short space of time. It was always part of the plan, they just didn't ship it until it was ready.
For a diametrically opposite example of this mindset, just look at RIM.

Even if MS hasn't aquired Nokia (yet) I'm still stunned by how quickly Nokia's demise appears to be approaching.

"A fate worse than a fate worse than death...? That's pretty bad"
[/blackadder]

You're not trying hard enough...

-217! Holy crap!

You can, but it has to be funny. Sorry, thems the rules.

Sorry, but just as so many people misunderstand the fact that Apple has the right to decide what to stock in its own shop, they also have the right to charge a rent to anyone who wants to sell other products inside the store that Apple has spent money setting up and promoting and attracting so many visitors to.
This would be like a concession stand holder in a large mall expecting to sell their own goods without paying a rent to the owners of the mall, who have done the actual hard work of building the place, keeping it clean, making sure there's plenty of parking etc. in order to make sure there are _customers_ who come to the mall.

Running a WHOIS search on the domain returns the following:

Registrant:
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
US
eddingsk@apple.com 1.4089744286 Fax: 1.4089741560

Domain Name: applecustomerpulse.com

Registrar Name: Markmonitor.com
Registrar Whois: whois.markmonitor.com
Registrar Homepage: http://www.markmonitor.com

Administrative Contact:
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
US
eddingsk@apple.com 1.4089744286 Fax: 1.4089741560
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc.
1 Infinite Loop
Cupertino CA 95014
US
eddingsk@apple.com 1.4089744286 Fax: 1.4089741560

Created on..............: 2011-01-26.
Expires on..............: 2012-01-25.
Record last updated on..: 2011-01-27.

Domain servers in listed order:

ns05.sotech.com
ns06.sotech.com

MarkMonitor is the Global Leader in Enterprise Brand Protection.

Domain Management
MarkMonitor Brand Protection™
AntiFraud Solutions
Corporate Consulting Services

Visit MarkMonitor at <a href="http://www.markmonitor.com" target="_blank">www.markmonitor.com
Contact us at 1 800 745 9229
In Europe, at 44 (0) 20 7840 1300

I'll stand to be corrected, but I don't think *all* of this info can be faked.

Outstanding. The link to join goes to a broken placeholder URL http://survey.sotech.com/xxxxxx/start.asp?s=1 which results in a Microsoft IIS page not found.

I'm guessing there's a reason you have a comment score of -57...