iOS won because it was a greenfield implementation, and benefited from having no backwards compatibility issues to deal with. In addition, the outsourcing model

iOS won because it was a greenfield implementation, and benefited from having no backwards compatibility issues to deal with. In addition, the outsourcing model of building hardware was largely perfected. Taiwanese manufacturers proved to be willing to become OEM makers for branded products, and a lot of risk has been taken out of the system. Apple couldn't have managed this in the 80s. The same pattern has been replayed many times over. Even the humble PC was just a toy before Moore's law allowed it to replace minicomputers and eventually take over departmental servers.