This is how Apple’s top secret product development process works

One thing the article hints at but doesn't state overtly (the book probably does), is that another key strategic structural advantage Apple has over other companies of scale is that all of the P&L responsibilities reside ONLY at the CFO-level. No "business unit owner" below the CFO office has to account for his/her unit's profitability or losses.

What this means is Apple has the flexibility to allocate (or deallocate) resources much easier than other companies of similar size; make investments and have people working on developing future capabilities without having to worry about whether those efforts are immediately (or ever) profitable (ahem...AppleTV...ahem); realign business units and incentive structures to remove conflicting internal interests; and kill off a cash cow in favor of What's Next.