The gaming console wars end up the same way, though in that case one at least can make the argument that the more successful company attracts more games (so its more about device sold than profit margin, which confirms your point about Apple being even worse)
Nexus 6 is good. My personal usage pattern for a "phone" is: "Really, I don't make many phone calls, ever, so what I really want is a tablet that can make a phone call every now and then...but if I can't fix a tablet in my pocket and have to read for my bag every time, I'll never use it, so I need the largest possible 'tablet' that will fit in my pocket and be able to make phone calls". The Nexus 6 fit that bill, though millage will vary if you don't have large pockets :)
If you read around you'll hear about how the N6 does full device encryption in software, and can't be disabled without custom ROM. That doesn't really affect performance in practice except for app loading, which absolutely feel slower than it should for a premium device (though its not nearly as bad as at launch. They patched it up since most of the negative reviews popped). If you flash a custom rom (i don't have the patience for that), it supposingly flies. That said, one can't help but be jealous of the iphone 6 plus battery life.
All around I like it. Its the only intersection of near tablet sized phone thats fully hackable if I ever need to, that has guaranteed OS updates, so for me it ended up being my only real option.