Note this: Apple spends substantially less (as a fraction of revenue) on R&D, and gets substantially more, in terms of outstanding products, compared to every other tech company. What is it that they're doing so well?
Nothing besides of polished systems and good hardware. But I do not like the type of signal this can show to the tech companies around the world: that their patents of new tech that are life changing for everyone are worth less than a pinch zoom on a touch screen, now I don't think it was a obvious gesture but I do not think it should be covered by a patent. There should be a better way to protect new UI elements.
Do you have some links referring to this? Specifically the R&D expenditures for Apple's direct competitors? Say, Asus, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung's smartphone division? You can't lump all of "tech" into one basked and compare it to Apple. You have to keep it aligned with companies that are in the same industry, and then exclude the extraneous R&D like Samsung's washing machine or refrigerator business.
