Of course they do--I hear people complaining about the price of a Starbucks venti skinny vanilla latte constantly. Usually it's when they're in line to buy one, or waiting for the barista to heat up their non-fat milk, but they buy them anyway because they've established a connection to the company. They know what they're going to get because Starbucks has successfully marketed its products to them.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was dead wrong when he said that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. Building a better mousetrap is the first step, but you also have to develop a better marketing and business plan than the competitors if you want to win.

Almost 25 years after the debut of the Macintosh, everyone in the Apple ecosystem should be keenly aware of this. The Mac was then, and is now, a far better personal computing experience than the alternative. But that didn't stop Windows from usurping the Mac as the dominant personal computer operating system.

I'm dead certain that one person is more aware of this than anyone else: The guy who Craig Hockenberry wrote his letter to in the first place, Steve Jobs.