Hi Daveilift.
You called, here I am.

First - I am a total idiot, concerning the mobile phone industry, although the analogy looks for me a bit wrong.
What Apple has done is, for me, simply the change of the telephone into the computer. These two branches are getting closer all the time and now, with all the tablets etc the two devices are getting integrated into one.

Forklifts cannot be integrated with cars, boats or planes.
Better analogy for me is the wheel.
Generally it didn't change from 6000 years.
Does it mean it didn't develop?
There were some groundbreaking inventions concerning the wheel within the ages.
The spokes, later the rims, tyres, pneumatics etc.

The forklifts are specialised machines.
I don't know if it was Clark or Yale (they claim so) who equipped the tractor with mast and forks.
But in the meantime things changed.
And there were some groundbreaking inventions too.
Clarks hydrokinetic transmission, Linde hydrostatic transmission, Lansing reach trucks, order pickers with the driver compartment lifted etc.
All these issues were invented to extend the simple forklift usability, save the costs, human efforts etc.

Now the premium issue.
Premium is obviously the marketing expression, but it describes the real or alleged advantages of the particular product in comparision to standards dominating the market. I appreciate the marketing persuasion role in it, but at the end of the day the market verifies the real advantages.
When, after the advertising heat is down, the customer is ready to pay more for something, it means, he feels he gets more for his money. It can be the feeling of safety (quality, service), costs reduction, higher efficiency. And he really gets it. This is what I name "the premium product".

I think, that the first guy who sold the wheels with spokes charged for them more than for the standard, solid ones.