IP, Copyright and Non-Compete Agreements?

There is a lot of informaton out there, but its NEVER absolutely clear when it comes to certain "secrets" in business. I worked for Apple and I soon realised that they DO NOT actually make anything when it comes to mostly their "hardware" products, they have a supplier (or a series of suppliers), who make the products and for some reason (I need help UNDERSTANDING the reasoning or concept), that supplier will NOT sell to anyone else. I'm sure about this because I owned an MP3 player that looks and functions exactly like the iPod, before the iPod came out. Not to discredit Jobs or Apple as an organization, but I'm doing alot of research on the Chinese market and I'm uncovering alot of valuable info. Where I need help understanding is here. I have found a product in one of the BRIC nations that is NOT being marketed abroad or on mainstream media. I think it would do really well here. Is there such a thing as Distribution rights or is there a way I can get a deal like Dell.