The one thing Apple has always had is confidence (to the point of absurdity) in their own products. In the early '90s they were almost unique in not knuckling under to Microsoft, unlike other companies (like even IBM!) who seemed to give up the instant M$ started eating into their profit margins.

But other than that, there is nothing special about how Apple operates; it simply had a man at the helm with vision and drive. The products they created were, for the most part, Steve Jobs' personal vision of what a perfect PC would be. Sure, Apple found particular niches and created products to fill those niches; but everybody does that.

Ah, the cheap attempt by Microsoft to fend off the government's anti-monopoly suit. By that point, Microsoft didn't believe Apple was a real competitor. (Of course, nobody else did either.) But that was around the same time that Apple managed to rehire Steve Jobs, which was a much more useful boost to the company.