So does Sony or Samsung make money directly from the customer when they sell you an laptop? Or do they make most of their money from the bloatware that is on it?
I heard that Apple was the only company that had an traditional mark up on their products. And were the only ones making money directly from the customer while other companies did it is some weird back handed way risky. Like the Kindle loosing amazon money but hoping that it will cause people to buy more from their store. Or Google giving Android away for free and making profit off of the advertising....
The other companies basically make money on bloatware. They also will have a markup to the vendor (Best Buy, Staples, etc) but it gets slimmer and slimmer as consumers expect cheaper PC prices.
Apple does have a markup since they make money from the hardware. This markup is on anything that leaves Apple whether its going to Best Buy, Staples, or a regular consumer. This is why you'll see prices the same all over the place.
Every now and then you'll find a place that sells an Apple product cheaper (Sams does this sometimes).
As for backhanded ways I think Sony is the king of that
When the PS3 launched Sony lost about $300 on every device sold. They later dropped backwards compatibility to aleviate the hefty loss (since backwards compatibility made it very expensive to produce). They in the end make money from licensing the use of their PS3 hardware to game companies (its a fee game devs have to pay to launch their game on a system) as well as many other services like the online store.