I don't know where these people are getting this bit of information from, but they're claiming that Steve Jobs "worked for more than a year on the products that he believed would safeguard the company" during the next four years.
Four year plans seem normal to me—any company should have a roadmap for at least the next four years. It's only logical if they want to make strategic decisions that would give them benefits in the long term.
Apple is a perfect example of this: they made contracts well in advance to secure a steady supply of low price flash memory and touch screens over the next several years. They did it for the MacBook Air, the iPhone, the iPod touch and the iPad. That's why their prices are lower than the rest of the industry and their margins higher, as Tim Cook reminded everyone last January: