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Apple does that all the time and still people love them.. Why? At least they do user research before assuming what the users want in the first place..

(that's how they manage to extort money from they customers..)

So they aren't really forcing users, because they are using the users' own ideas. Anyways, choice isn't generally a good thing. It's only necessary when the developers can't make a good interface, so need the user to do the last leg of work to get the software working correctly. Every checkbox is a failure on the part of the developer.

No. They most certainly do not do field research, especially when it comes to usability.

What kind of research did Apple do to allow the round mouse, or to withhold for decades more than one button on a mouse?

Furthermore, what kind of research did Apple conduct to bring us:
- window buttons so tiny that it takes slow, methodical attempts to actually click on one;
- programs that don't really close when one closes the program's window;
- the perfectly "intuitive" model/metaphor of trashing drives to unmount and/or remove media;
- monitors that can't tilt downward;
- use of sub-keypads on touchscreen devices, so that one has to navigate through several screens and tap 9 times just to type something as simple as an ellipsis ("...");
- the lack of cut-and-paste;
- critical buttons and access ports hidden on hardware;
- magsafe connectors that overheat and catch fire ("mag-safe" connectors that were in use before they were adopted by Apple didn't have this problem);
- the list goes on...

Apple has consistently put "style" (and the designer's ego) over the user's needs, and Apple has frequently rushed products to market that other manufacturers would take a lot more time to perfect.