Please name an innovation from Steve Jobs.Gates has the market sewn up ... but Steve Jobs truly INNOVATES. They are like two sides of the same coin.
Apple II.First mass-market GUI OS.
iPod
Basically, Apple adds features and quality to known products, producing not perhaps the best that can be made, and not the one which will sell the biggest market share - but the best mass-market products in category. And bends the categories, too.
But he is so good at making and marketing the best mass-market digital devices that he practically invented that market niche. He leaves the niche of "largest volume" to Microsoft et al - and still has a bigger gross, and market cap, of any digital device maker.
Apple II was pre-dated by many other personal computers. It wasn’t even that big of a seller, being way outsold by many options from Commodore (who still holds the record for the greatest sales of any model of computer).
As far as the first mass-market GUI OS, define mass market. The Macs were a small player in the market, the C64s and PCs greatly eclipsing what the Mac had. The GEOS on the C64 sold something like 1.5 million copies, about 5 times more than the Mac at the time.
The iPod? Portable MP3 players had been in commercial production for 6-7 years before the iPod. Rio and Creative both had strong presence in the market.
Apple’s been much more a “take an idea and polish it to a high degree” than to actually innovate or create new concepts. Which is what you state. That’s not innovation, though - that’s simply execution on an existing idea.
And as far as bigger gross? Not a chance. Siemens, Samsung, LG, and several others (including Microsoft) gross more than Apple.