Hey man that was a great write up.
In fact you inspired me to change my thoughts on long-vs-short copy. To me, I dislike reading long boring copy, but you made a great point about skimmers. I didn't realize it but I tend to read the headline, skim the sections for eye-catchers, and move on, when I am looking at WSOs and etc.
I used to think that the Apple method of simplicity would be the way to go. But then I realized that they started doing this once they already had a reputation. The most popular Apple commercials that I can remember were the "I'm a Mac", "And I'm a PC" which compared their product vs their competitor. Now they rely on their reputation of being not only fashionable but better-than-the-competitor based upon how they previously impressed upon us.
Reputation and selling TO your market makes a world of difference.