I am trying to think of anything worthwhile Apple had ever delivered that was actually their idea, but somehow fail...

Sure, there are companies that make real, cutting edge stuff in SV. As there are in other places. But SV has far more noise that just would not even appear any any saner part of the world. Although I would really question whether Apple does (or ever did) anything cutting edge that wasn't... eh... borrowed from somebody else.

But really, what unique skills does SV have? Chutzpah isn't a skill, after all.