I can always tell when people do not have a business acumen and I do not mean this in a disrespectful way, and I apply this to all similar comments.
It is not that simple. Start ups require cash. When a company begins exclusivity agreements, other companies won't come near you because often there are agreements in place that could bite them.
This is also a new product platform. Other companies are not looking at Saphire right now, which makes other prospective clients small. It's also a premium item, and few companies are going that route in todays market.
Without landing a contract with a major player like Apple, the odds of the company surviving are slim. 8 out of 10 new businesses fail in the first year!
How many other companies are making Saphire right now? How many companies are using this in their products? How much money does it take to keep a very EXPENSIVE new venture running when you don't have contracts and sales, and how likely are you to raise capital without these things?
GT had very few options.... and Apple knew this and exploited it. Why do you think Apple struck one deal, and then demanded another? Because they had time to realize that they were GT's obi-wan and their only hope.
Apple screwed them. Had Apple not screwed them, who knows....
This is Wal-Mart economics. Do you know how many start ups have been put to ruin by these same business dealings? "Well, u contactually can't sell to anyone else now, and now we want it at a price that will bankrupt you, but we don't care because we can replace you with someone else tomorrow."
Sure Apple generously let GT out of their agreement, when it was clear that they were under, couldn't produce anything, and in such ruin that no other company was going to deal with them and get an edge over Apple.
This is sadly just business. Was Apple scummy? Sure! But Apple is known for doing business this way. Just as Wal-mart is known for it. If the devil gives you a contract, you do have a choice not to sign it. GT was dead if they didn't because the initial rounds with Apple black listed them.
So in the end... they really had no choice, because not signing was a guaranteed death sentence to the company, and signing potentially could have made the company huge.
But to make these blanket statements everyone is making without having any educated idea of how these things works is foolish.
If you knew you were going to die in under 30 days, and the only chance you had was an experimental transplant to give you a monkey heart, what option do you pick? You're pretty much already dead.... might as well sign on the dotted line...