This got me thinking too when leaping into the digital world about 2 years ago.
It's all about enhancing colors, easy done in digital, I.M.O. it's way overdone! I guess most people like
this, that's why the manufactures do it, no touch up or editing needed.
Some cameras, like my Canon Rebel XT, I can preset colors, sharpness etc. to a degree to my liking.
Konrad

Also, even with editing, my experience (with my ability and equipment) is that the scene is usually not as beautiful as the naked eye catches it anyway. So, personally, I don't feel editing it to try to get it closer to visual impact it had is bad in any way.

Like with any other effort by us humans, some will have the knowledge, experience and skill to do it better and some won't have quite as pleasing of results.

And, even that is like a taste test between coke and pepsi. Some will like more color and some less.

Lastly, I've had three digital cameras. My experience is that the better the equipment, the less editing has to be done to get a nice rendition of the scene.

But, like you say, most camera manufacturers set the colors a little high because most buyers like that in their pictures. It sells more cameras.