I think "easy" is a relative term here. I know lot of people, even a lot of fairly tech savvy people who wouldn't even try to do a Hackintosh. It is definitely easier now than when I first tried it though, the tools have gotten much better, but then so have I.
I think there are a few apple employees who monitor the community and our developments. I am sure that there have been discussions at Apple about opening up the Mac OS to be installed on other computers. Remember, putting the Mac OS on the Intel platform was done first by some engineers at Apple as a contingency study that ended up going to market. Perhaps the recent no-cost Mac OS X releases are part of the process to allow the eventual opening of the OS for official use on other computers.
I think Apple is (rightfully) worried about support issues if they open up the OS officially. With the way it currently stands, those that really want to do a Hackintosh can, but it is a bit fiddly at times, and Apple does not have to do any support at all.
I also think perhaps there is some kind of "gentlemen's agreement" between Apple and Microsoft [probably originating from Steve Jobs and Bill Gates]. Apple does brilliant all-in-ones (iMacs), Mac Mini's, Laptops and Xeon Powered Garbage Cans. However, it resolutely stays out of the regular day-to-day cheap business machines and home/game boxes that the vast majority uses. It does allow both companies to make a tidy profit while not having to deal with cut-throat competition in many markets (monopoly tactics).
I would like to see the day that Apple did put out a basic box computer that was upgradeable. Also, I would like to see OS X officially sanctioned for non-Apple hardware. Of course, I think to make it work well, they would need a much-stricter-than-Microsoft official hardware certification program [ready for OS X?]. Imagine seeing this message on screen one day:
The video card you installed is from a known Apple developer, but this version of OS X does not currently have the proper drivers to fully support all of its functions. Would you like OS X to search the vendor's website for an Apple approved and installable driver?