Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple's gone from that to a ludicrously more profitable, bigger version of that. He's clearly done very well but the starting point is different, the time period is shorter. Tim Cook helped Apple become an Imperial Star Destroyer and is apparently a pretty competent captain of one.
but jobs faced steeper hurdles right away bringing the company back from bankruptcy and reinvigorating morale within the company. jobs then successfully invented new product categories and much of the success apple is enjoying comes from an expanding smart phone market, which you rightly point out that cook is doing a fantastic job of addressing.
the apple watch will take a couple years to see if it's really a success. lots of fanfare so far, but it could fade in popularity like the iPad which, if you recall, was an incredibly fast growing category.
the iphone franchise, just like any other franchise, cannot last forever. and to find another product category with growth like that is going to be a very, very difficult thing to do.
i personally believe that SIRI will be the most important category at apple over the next 5-10 years. voice interfaces, without the use of a 5" screen will be the next most important UI/UX in computing. and i would not currently bet on apple to be the best at delivering that.
i'd say cook will have to be measured by his ability to dictate and keep up with technology trends, not just manage the supply chain. but you're right, he's done a great job of that for sure.
I don't know if this was ever in question. I never viewed Jobs as a particularly good CEO—charismatic and spiritual leader, yes. Good CEO? Probably not. He knew how to motivate people to get his version of the truth to consumers, and that version was incredibly successful.
Jobs was a marketer (and perhaps innately clairvoyant) at heart who was so successful at marketing that he could do a good job at CEO and create a multi-billion-dollar company.
Cook is a genius at the broad-stroke of business operations and most likely leaves the storytelling and imagination to others. It's little surprise the immediate results are a better bottom-line. Time will only tell if Apple truly has enough creativity and stories in the ranks to be long-term successful. (I think it does.)
Or look at it this way: would Cook be doing as well without his predecessor? Almost certainly not. Would Apple be doing as well with Jobs still at the helm. Almost certainly so.
It will work as long as improvements in its core markets occur on a linear curve. It won't withstand an competitor making the product obsolete (for example, a possible transition from mobile to wearables - not that I'd put my money there, but still).
Also, the Watch seems like it could have benefited from some Steve Jobs type of editing and distilling. That's the kind of product focused authority that such a company really needs.