My Ipad Screen cost $100 to replace after my toddler broke it. My Samsung SII Cost $100 to fix after I bricked it trying to root it. I don't believe Apple products cost more to fix. I would argue they might cost less because there are so many after market parts in production. Also, My Ipad 2 is better built then My Asus Tablet. You can just feel the quality difference.
There is a wider variety of Android products than Apple. $100 Android tablets exist, while you wouldn't normally find a brand new iPad for $100. But yes, the quality, and specs are different.
I actually like the new design and feel of IOS 7. (Might be just because I wanted a change However). I have had winterboard and many different themes with my jail broke Ipad. IOS 7 theme feels as good or better than several of the others I have tried. Once IOS 7 is jailbroke I am sure more themes will again be available.
Android gives you a lot of choice in terms of customization. You can download launchers, widgets, themes, icons and so on from the Google Play store. The iOS store does not sell any of these, so there are really not many good designers making iOS designs.
I am much more ANDROID lover than an apple fan. Open sourced android is more fun and does have more control. But, jailbroken apples are very customizable and do have some advantages. For example, I love pandora downloader for IOS. Android does not have any equivalent app near as good. The app allows me to "rip" a song being played and save it right to the internal memory. All of the Android ones that attempt to offer the same compatibility fail miserably. Another advantage to IOS is they support the devices with software updates for 3-4 years. Android device manufacturers are lucky to give any software updates more than a year later. (Good thing Rooted phones can get more android updates)
I have both IOS and Android devices and like each one for different reasons. I like android for the "Power User" reason and feel. Changing roms and customizing at the system level is nice. And being opensource means the developer community is much larger. But a closed source IOS with simplicity like Apple does appeal to some. I am glad we have manufactures competing for our business. Gives us more (and better) products to choose from. Apple has had good products. Now the question is, has anyone tried a Microsoft tablet?
IMO Apple is great for the average user. Even cydia tweaks are simple to setup and use. Android is better for people who want to play with their devices more (which makes it better than iOS).