The difference is that if Apple were to do something like this they'd actually ship product and not just release a far-fetched concept.
Apple's magic isn't that they have ideas of beautiful things. I'm sure every company does. Apple's magic is that the beautiful things they imagine come true.
(And I'd guess that's why a lot of people are Apple fans, myself included: because Apple seems to spit in the face of the idea that you can dream but it'll never come true. It's almost a giddy feeling.)
A commercial company’s ability to innovate is inversely proportional to its proclivity to publicly release conceptual products.
http://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Real_Artists_Ship...
I also recall hearing that Apple engineers didn't think the iMac was technically possible, and Jobs made them build it anyway.