Maybe I've been following tech for too long but I remember Bill Gates loaning Apple money because they were going broke, I remember the first apple tablet that was a miserable failure, I remember the best music playing software in the business slowing getting usurped by inferior products. I remember superior hardware being eclipsed by inferior hardware. The most important thing to remember through all this is that just because a company is in the lead at the moment, and just because they have the best technology, does not mean they will have either next month.
Every one of your examples is part of the Pre-Steve Jobs era, but you make an important point. His existence has passed but his legacy will hopefully live on much longer than it did after 1985. There were very few failures (but they did exist! See the G4 Cube) during his second tenure and the wild following can be partially credited for that. Without him at the helm, it does become more likely that one of these "killers" does indeed come to surpass Apple.
But, in my opinion, it won't be for at least the next 3-5 years, so anyone claiming that they are releasing a "killer" will be the subject of eye-rolling, at least until the first one that succeeds.
By the way, I really love Microsoft's innovation with Windows Phone and hope it does become the #2 OS in the mobile market.
You remember wrongly. Bill Gates loaned Apple nothing! Instead, Microsoft, as part of a settlement of a patent infringement lawsuit brought against it by Apple, agreed to buy $150,000,000 of preferred, non-voting stock in Apple, license from Apple for five years for an undisclosed yearly royalty the disputed patents, commit to continue developing AND marketing Office for Mac for those same five years, and cede to Apple licenses to unnamed patents and copyrights for the life of each copyright and patent! In exchange, Apple agreed to drop the lawsuit, license the disputed patents, issue the preferred stock, and include Microsoft Explorer as a browser with Apple MacOS on all new Macs for five years as an optional installed browser along with Netscape Navigator! At the time of the settlement Apple was in the black, had had a profitable quarter, and had over $2 Billion in liquid assets and cash. Looking at the lopsided settlement, it's obvious who blinked in the lawsuit.
The Newton PDA could hardly be called a "miserable failure" as its product line contined for five years, produced seven Apple Newton models, and seven clone models from various manufacturers, only to be killed by Steve Jobs when he returned to the helm of Apple and wanted to streamline the company's focus.
There are many who still consider the iTunes line (on the Mac) and the iPods to be the best in each category. If you've never used an iPod touch, you don't know how good a player can be or how easy to use. Combine the Newton and the iPod and you get both the iPhone and the iPad. As for other "inferior hardware" many pundits and reviewers have claimed the best Windows machines they have used are Apple Macs booted into Windows or running Windows in a sandboxed virtual machine.