IF this is actually true, I can sort of see the fit. Apple is very good at turning pieces into products. Color, clearly, isn't, but may be very good at producing pieces that have value in the proper hands.
I'm throwing this out there to stimulate discussion a bit, and there's a pretty good chance I get downvoted for saying it, but there's an argument to be made that this actually is a success for the patent system. Companies founded on "get a bunch of smart people together and innovate" should be something that we encourage as a society. They create value, and there should be a structure to encourage this to actually happen. I'm not sure that academia should have a monopoly on this sort, and patents are the other current method of doing this.
I'm throwing this out there to stimulate discussion a bit, and there's a pretty good chance I get downvoted for saying it, but there's an argument to be made that this actually is a success for the patent system. Companies founded on "get a bunch of smart people together and innovate" should be something that we encourage as a society. They create value, and there should be a structure to encourage this to actually happen. I'm not sure that academia should have a monopoly on this sort, and patents are the other current method of doing this.