This is valid, but in reality Apple wins because they are fundamentally better managed in most ways that most European companies, point blank.
That's a hard pill to swallow because it doesn't boil down to simple things like R&D spending by sector.
Also, it means there's not that much the state apparatus can necessarily do.
It's a fantastical misunderstanding of markets to suggest that 'government does stuff and then we win'. Obviously government is very important in systematic ways, and even more so in direct ways to help nations get over their limited size to do things like 'Airbus'.
And while Steve Jobs probably would not have thrived in Europe, he did however in the US and there isn't quite a corollary in Europe.
There are so many factors.
And most paradoxically - many of the factors that hinder Europe from expansion, have benefits in the other direction. German culture is much more formal, the gears run pretty well there, but they also are more resistant to change. Attitudes towards work/live balance means a high standard of living, and that's worth something of course.
Etc.
One thing worth nothing that nobody seems to talk about so I tend to highlight it, is the media participation in industry. In the US, CNN will talk about 'RobinHood' and 'Bumble' and 'Tesla' endlessly. The amount of free PR and narrative building is incalculable.
Most of the rest of the world is not like that.
How do you compete as a little European entity that nobody talks about, when CNN is giving millions of 'free impressions daily' to your competitors?
As one of many differentiation.
Of course, in China, you have a managed economy in which the winners are effectively chosen, and the state backs them.
Normally - this does not work.
But when you have a nation that is 'behind' typically you an have some central planners make rational investments in 'infrastructure' and specific industry. Much like the post-war planning of Korea and Japan. After a while, the marginal returns to 'low hanging fruit' dissapears.
China continues with that approach into the high tech world. While they build 'highways' (much like US strategic investment in the highway system in the 1950's) - they're also building out consumer payments (Ali), taxi services (DiDi), networking (Huawei) etc. - in a quasi capitalist way - things which, in the Western world we opted to have done in private markets.