Someone else asked me today why I would grow an apple from seed when it's much faster and sure to get better results if I were to just buy a tree or get some rootstock and graft, or try to root a cutting. While that may be true, I can't afford to buy an apple tree right now, nor rootstock. I don't know enough about grafting to risk messing it up. I have not had luck in the past with trying to root a cutting - nor do I want a clone of a tree I already eat from (which would be where the cutting would come from).
So why am I growing apples from seed you might ask? It could be 10+ years until these seeds produce their first apples. That's a long time to wait! Think of it as a long-term experiment. I have decent odds that apples grown at a commercial facility (those you buy at a grocery store, or are served at school lunch in my case) are grown with enough other apple varieties that they will not be rogue inedible crosses. In fact, chances are pretty good that whatever grows will not only be edible, but possibly delicious! And since I grew from seed and not a clone/graft/cutting, that means that my trees are very likely unique genetically, making them the only kind to produce whatever apple variety they make. If they're absolutely mind-blowingly tasty, I could share cuttings with other people who can then grow my variety of apple as well. And if they turn out absolutely inedible, I can always use the now-grown trees as rootstock and learn to graft at a later time. I lose nothing by trying, but I gain experience, knowledge, and possibly many years of tasty apples if I give it a try. So why not?