I think Apple’s skill is to see innovation and find the right moment when it can be packaged into a very good package. They did that with the Mac and with the iPhone. All compenents were there but nobody had packaged them as well as Apple.

Why do you say Apple didn't have an innovative culture?

"During its early years, Xerox was not able to capitalize on the market potential of the research and development that was getting done at PARC. The benefit of that work accrued to other companies. During its early years, Xerox was not able to capitalize on the market potential of the research and development that was getting done at PARC. The benefit of that work accrued to other companies. For example, Apple launched the Macintosh Computer in 1984. This personal computer featured the GUI and a mouse, which for that era, was a revolutionary new innovation.

But Apple had not invented the GUI or the mouse. This brilliant work had been done by the scientists at Xerox PARC. So why was it Apple and not Xerox that was launching a product in 1984 and benefiting from PARC’s great inventions? The answer to that question lies in the fact that R&D and invention are not enough. In order to innovate successfully, companies need frameworks, tools and processes that can help them take their inventions from ideas to commercial success."

Probably this is the reason:

> In 1979, Steve Jobs arranged a visit to Xerox PARC, in which Apple Computer personnel would receive a demonstration of the technology from Xerox in exchange for Xerox being able to purchase stock options in Apple. After two visits to see the Alto, Apple engineers used the concepts to introduce the Apple Lisa and Macintosh systems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

I recall that Alan Kay distinguished invention and innovation: Invention is creating new things, and innovation is bringing them to market. He said that innovation creates billion dollar companies, but invention has created trillion dollar industries like semiconductors and computer networking.