Inventing is valuable, but there might be millions of great inventions that never saw the light of day. The most important skill is the ability to create a product that people want, which is a combination of a lot of other skills. The creator of the product is often not the inventor.
Jobs was a genius at that. He seemed to have a unique blend of capabilities: vision, drive, management, inspiration, and marketing; but he may never have invented a single thing. Since he was able to create eye-popping products over an over again, he is beyond even a guy like Gates who was actually an engineer as well as a great businessman.
I mean really, everybody knows that Xerox developed the GUI interface that has evolved into the dominant PC interface today, but what did Xerox do with it? Jobs saw it, recognized the value, and made it probably the key part of revolutionary products.
Another recent figure who was also has that unique skill set is Ross Perot. He had at least 3 major successes: EDS, the Alliance Airport and Perot Systems (which granted was a variation of EDS, but hey, others tried and failed but Perot Systems was successful). Werner Von Braun is another example from a totally different field.
Maybe this is why Edison seems to be the greatest of all. He was the inventor as well as the creator of many revolutionary products and services. Plus, the diversity of his creations is astonishing. He was like Bell Labs, Jobs, Gates and Perot inside one body.
