@Wagomu:
So ponies just shut down the industrial revolution? Somehow I don't see this as a happy ending. If they accepted the deal and negotiated the terms better, then there wouldn't have been a dispute resulting in a disregard of quality control. The truth is, though, that the technology actually produced an equal quality product in greater quantity. Also, considering reduced labor, they could sell more at a lower cost, expand their trade and probably improve the economy of Ponyville as a whole.
Furthermore, the technology from that one machine could also probably be applied to other services in town and improve the quality of living quite considerably. The two brothers were actually geniuses compared to most other ponies. Electrically powered systems? Vacuum tubes? A personal automobile (which I assume also ran on electricity)? Plus they even developed a method of using magic to power electrical components. As far as I can tell, ponies don't have anything beyond mechanically-powered systems and very little beyond basic combinations of simple machines and the occasionally coal-powered engine (trains work and there is construction equipment that might imply diesel engines). Actually, the technological state of the poniverse is quite baffling, but the point is that that one machine introduced technology that hasn't existed in it yet and all put together in one contraption.
All I'm saying is that the ponies have just put themselves back another century thanks to some foolish belief in pride. And, at the end of the day, though they did win the competition, it was with unreliable and inhuman (inpony?) working conditions. So no lesson learned, indeed.
It wasn't really the Apple family's fault. They were willing to negotiate, but after they refused the initial unfair offer, the Flim-Flam brothers plainly decided to run the Apples out of business.
However, your disappointment at their rejection of technology is unfounded. The Apples didn't reject the technology specifically, they just rejected the business philosophy of the FFB.
It does make me wonder why the Apples don't pursue better technologies. I think the simple reason is that they sell their products for very fair and honest prices, and that's not exactly how to maximize profits. I imagine that the Apples would sell a barrel of cider for $5 to Filthy Rich's Barter and Trade, and Filthy Rich will sell a bottle of cider for $2, and if each barrel held 200 bottles worth of cider, and the packaging was 20¢ each, then the total profit per barrel for Filthy Rich would be: 200*$2-200*$0.20-$5 = $355. I think this scenario is quite probable, and thus the Apples would struggle to maintain their business instead of upgrading their farm equipment.
Also, farm hands cost money, which I doubt the Apples can really afford as long as they keep their prices so "honest" and low. Perhaps Twilight should dig up a book on basic economics to teach Applejack how markets work.