ECC and Xeons aren't fringe exotic technology. Intel obviously has some kind of hang-up with their market segmentation though.
Here's the thing... there's really not much of a point in ECC memory for most desktops and laptops. In servers, sure... in mission critical applications even a tiny memory error could have devastating consequences. But for someone browsing facebook? Nah.
The general march of progress in computing has been about better technology iteratively trickling down to everybody.
I don't "need" my phone to have a 64bit CPU, but I'll take it. Glad it does. No doubt a few years ago someone was saying...
"64bit should be a PC thing. Phones? Nah."
...like it was some kind of law, rather than just the point-in-time market situation.
The thing is that it is considered that ECC in RAM is not needed for consumer electronics, but that's utterly insane.