Saying that "Improving is not Apple-style innovation," seems kinda wrong. Yes, they've had a few brand new product launches, but most of their time has been spent improving existing products. The progression from the original iPod to the current version has been a series of incremental improvements over the course of the last 11 years. Same goes for all the Mac computers. If anything I think the opposite is true, that Apple-style innovation tends to be improvement, with a few big leaps once in a while.

Also, new isn't necessarily better. I think Microsoft is in a position right now where they have the choice of duplicating the iOS/Android experience, or trying something completely different. Since they've shown a willingness to spend tons of money on new projects and play the long game, I think their strategy of trying new things is good for them. Products don't generally start out great, but rather get there over time and over multiple incremental iterations. I think Microsoft is essentially still searching for v1. Apple on the other hand already has a product that people love and buy in huge numbers. They have their good v1 and are now trying to make it great through incremental improvements.