That is what he is world-class at. Not designing comprehensive product experiences or ideating new greenfield products (and definitely not designing app icons).
If IO or OpenAI also has a product visionary of the caliber to fully utilize Ive's singular industrial design talent, they'll rule the world. Otherwise, they're sinking billions into the next Humane Pin.
The difference was management choosing to stick with a platform for long enough for network effects to kick in.
If Apple has any advantages compared to other big tech, it's an ability to look past next quarter's financials.
The first gen iPhone is not a smartphone by today's standards. No multitasking, no copy/paste, no centralized instant messaging, all things WebOS devices had on release.
Even the second generation of iPhones felt half baked by comparison.
Which just goes to illustrate my point, that they weren't technologically superior, just more committed.
Both Microsoft phones and WebOS have surviving communities today, and would have thriving communities if new devices were available.
Sadly, it takes more than two consecutive quarters to establish a platform.
This metric has very little to do with quality.
Pretty good for something that supposedly failed 12 years ago.
You spelled Steve Jobs wrong.