perkunas:
"the tremendous popularity and sales volume for the arduino?"
Well the arduino has been around for some time and has built up a strong following, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the easiest to use for beginners or even the best system for them. I'm sure a PIC fanboy would disagree with you, but I do think if the product needs reform to stay current.
You cant just keep telling people a horse and buggy is good enough soon the cars will run you off the road.
Well nothing you said there has changed my mind about the arduino being the easiest for raw begineers. The only other platform I've come across that is as easy to get started (maybe even easier) is the Picaxe platform. But they being tokenized Basic, not true compiled code, have a large speed penalty compared to a arduino. Also their embedded firmware is not open sourced so you have to buy raw chips from the firm that they have installed the firmware.
So be specific and show us products that are easier for a raw beginner to programming and electronics to get started learning how to use micro-controllers in their projects. That is arduino's real strength and it's original aimed market.
Lefty