Ultimately, a hit is worth 100 misses and he had 7 colossal hits in his career (Apple II / Mac / NextOS / MacBook / iPod / iPhone / iPad)
The iTunes Music Store not only helped sell the iPod, it was the reason they were able to stand up the App Store so fast. They already had the infrastructure and millions of credit cards on file.
The Apple Stores gave them a direct relationship with customers that meant they weren’t completely beholden to retailers and ttet didn’t have to compete for shelf space. Everyone at the Apple Store knew Apple products.
NeXTStep was Steve Jobs, not Ive who was at Apple at that point in time IIRC.