True, but that last interim there were a few important differences, both internal and external.

 

Internally...

• Jobs was kicked out by the board, and the board decided to go with some idiot for CEO who really didnt know what he was doing in the tech field (the guy was an executive at Pepsi before joining Apple).

• During his absence, the Pepsi guy actually licensed MacOS clones (I used to have one from PowerComputing - it was crap), and screwed up the entire product line.

• during the hiatus, 3rd-party developers were worshipped, to the point of crippling development. 

Externally...

• Apple got (very) short shrift in the tech retail market, as stores accepted incentives and offers to push DOS/Windows machines over Macs, and the IBM-compatible machinery was cheaper, allowing for the (usually commissioned) sales critters to move more of them. 

Those things nearly killed the company. 

I think things are radically different nowadays. You now have a board that is comprised of people with some actual brains, sales have shown that clones (and licenses thereof) are unnecessary, Apple has its own retail presence that draws huge crowds, and they have pretty much built ecosystems that are healthy and growing (and more importantly, not as easy to stomp on by the competition).

Now long term? Nobody knows.