Ask HN: What distinguishes Apple's internal culture and processes?

I saw a comment earlier today concerning the distinct manner in-which Apple handles project management (though the link escapes me at present), which brought to my attention that though much ado has been made of Apple's influential figures, I've seen very little coverage of Apple as an institution.

When Job's was alive, the company was treated as an extension of his will. Since then, it looks from the outside like a black box that occasionally pushes out a new product.