Dictating the pace of innovation

Steve Jobs in a 2008 interview describes the benefits of owning an operating system:

"That allows us to innovate at a much faster rate than if we had to wait for Microsoft, like Dell and HP and everybody else does. I mean Vista took what -- seven or eight years? ...we can set our own priorities and look at things in a more holistic way from the point of view of the customer. It also means that we can take it and we can make a version of it to fit in the iPhone and the iPod.

We can clearly see Apple's advantage on the 10X diagram. In addition to it, the introduction of the AppStore enables Apple and its developers to run innovation cycles at breakneck speeds. Very few companies, if any, can match this.
Furthermore, with the newly acquired silicon design capabilities, Apple might be able to beat its hardware competitors at their own game.