The arguments for Apple's failure seem to focus on what Apple isn't doing, rather than what it is doing.

E.g.

- they aren't establishing or milking a monopoly - they aren't making commodity hardware - they aren't engaging in predatory pricing

What these things have in common is that they are easy to understand.

The general negative commentary seems to be of the form "We can understand what everyone else is doing, but we don't understand what Apple is doing, therefore Apple must be doing nothing."

There's nothing new about this. The only difference when Steve Jobs was alive was that they could say 'We don't understand what Apple is doing, but Steve Jobs is a genius so that explains their success."