Average developer quality isn’t going to be the only factor in defect rate. Development process, strategy, technology and management all play a role, and my impression is that all of the major players have had varying defect rates over different era of their development.
But indeed that’s not relevant.
But - I’m not talking about ‘Apple fans’. I’m talking about the public perception.
Apple is obviously treated differently from the other players, when it comes to media coverage.
That isn’t a justification for anything - I have in more than one place said I agree that with Gruber that Apple is wrong to do this.
However it does rebut the argument that things that don’t hurt other companies wouldn’t hurt Apple, and it may partially explain their choices.
[0]: Assuming that the idea that Apple is, right now, treated any differently by anyone other than its fans has any merit to it, of course.
Sure you don’t see any reason why apple shouldn’t have the perception of them ‘hurt’.
But that’s not the point - the point is that Apple doesn’t want the perception of themselves to be hurt, and so they are going to act accordingly.
My point is that it's completely irrelevant to the discussion. That Apple fans think Apple is better in no way justifies the practices mentioned in TFA, so their "perception by others in comparison" is not really here nor there.
At least as far as I can see, I could be wrong of course.