What made Apple Apple until recently was an intrinsic force(from within the company) to innovate an improve(a perfectionist and angry force that will insult and denigrate you if she did not wanted what you made, that will demand the best of you whenever the company is well or not).
In life you don't have to wait for others to force you when you could force yourself for your best. E.g students that choose careers their selves (even hard ones) are way happier than those that let others to decide for them.
"I doubt they'll move nearly as quickly."
Your opinion is based on a prejudice "Apple responds to market pressures just like any other company".
Apple had made very good products without "market pressure" that comes when things go bad, sales and. stock go down. The last decade had no pressure on Apple so your prejudice is not true.