Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
HTC Looking to Strike Deal, Google and Apple Likely to Drive Up Price of Patent Acquisitions
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
You could say that about the wheel, the layout of controls in a car etc etc.
Of course someone has to be the 1st person to think of something, but the world is full of millions of things that were invented originally by someone, and yet we all own these items and feel they are obvious solutions and would be crazy for anyone to claim ownership to them.
Or do you feel the person who invented the wheel should claim a royalty on every single device in the world that has a circular wheel ?
Technically, perhaps yes, but it would be stupid would it not?
Thanks for the info!
He's mostly right. Apple doesn't develop LCD screens themselves, or most of the chips they use (CPU aside). However, they do often ask for custom versions of chips, even if that's just markings.
R&D wise, Apple has doubled their spending lately, but it's still only $1.6 billion a year, which is far and away the lowest of major tech firms by amount, and almost the least percentage-wise.
Apple brags that they like to "act like a startup" and make engineers rotate between projects. So they're not hiring lots of people.
Where does the money go? It's pretty clear that it's going into bank accounts in huge amounts.
So what's more important? Spending a ton of cash on R&D or creating products people actually want?
If Apple could create what it does on $1 a year, even better. That's how business is supposed to work. Don't resent Apple for turning small dollars into big ones. Pity the companies who burn boatloads of money in lieu of creative thinking and a deep understanding of the customer.
Oh, I totally agree. It's amazing what Apple does on their low R&D budget.
If you noticed though, I was responding to the claim that Apple spends lots of money on it. The correct answer is: they do not.
I think that's partially because Apple has a magic mix of foresight and being able to force the market. They are pretty good at knowing where to invest R&D, but they also dictate a lot of market trends, meaning R&D money can be focused and they need not worry about it being wasted.
Agreed, Apple knows where to put R&D because they're focused on producing just a few major products, not the much broader swath that other companies take on.
That's a core pathway that Jobs took when he came back to Apple: shutting down tons of R&D and products that didn't seem to be going anywhere... or that he had no personal interest in.
I suspect that kind of thinking is why Apple is dropping their server line, and that we'll see more of that as they continue to narrow their focus down to iOS powered systems. I would not at all be surprised if their R&D budget soon dropped again back down to 2008 levels, which were about half of this year's.
That's a core pathway that Jobs took when he came back to Apple: shutting down tons of R&D and products that didn't seem to be going anywhere... or that he had no personal interest in.
I suspect that kind of thinking is why Apple is dropping their server line, and that we'll see more of that as they continue to narrow their focus down to iOS powered systems. I would not at all be surprised if their R&D budget soon dropped again back down to 2008 levels, which were about half of this year's.