Comparing, well, Apples to pears
I still think that comparing Apple's turnover to the turnover of companies like IBM, HP, CISCO and Oracle is a bit wrong.
Apple should be in competition with Benetton, Cartier and Yves Saint Laurent. They're a fashion or entertainment company, albeit a very, VERY successful one.
All tablets* are somewhat of an 'the Jones' have one, so I must, too' article. The amusing thing though is the justification banter: Instead of saying 'I wanted one because it's a cool toy' like they do when they buy a Playstation or a XBox; most people give a load of reasons that wouldn't stand up to a flea's flatus and try to convince you that owning a tablet instantly turns any old part-time barista into a creative genius. Turning a lame photo of your cat into an oil painting by prodding a button labelled 'artistic' is not art.
The best lot though are the Apple customers. They are not just sure that they have a superior product (which is, is some way, not wrong; iPads are well built), they are also sure that it makes them themselves better. It's a Veblen Good (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good), a status symbol that has to be acquired to show that one is not just swimming with the stream, but a pacesetter in the society.
All kudos to Apple for shaping and exploiting a market, but there is no IT-angle in here.
Here is where the Paris Hilton angle is.
* I'm sure there are exceptions and really useful applications out there; although using it to count traffic instead of the old mechanical counter (£5.99) is not one of them.