Other products do break though. My acer netbook stopped seeing the battery after only 3 months, and that thing was never abused.
My LG Viewty phone was absolute crap.. plasticy thing the paint came off and it just stopped working after a year.
And sorry ZMatt but you either don't look after iPods as well as you think you do or your just unlucky, i don't personally have one but my sister has had the same ipod classic for atleast 4 years now, and sure it is scratched and stuff but it works perfectly.
Anyway i don't quite see the logic in what you have said. I would rather have a product that may break after a year of use that i know i can replace for free quickly and easily then one that i know should last several years but if it doesn't im screwed. The only apple product to break on me was my old iPhone, but that was from water damage when i went skiing, kinda my own fault.