Not surprising, since most of the core R&D needed happens in the supply chain -- the fabs, the screen manufacturers, the battery makers, sensors, etc. If the iWatch for example, uses new curved battery tech or curved screen, that will have arisen mostly from the R&D done by their partners.<p>With the acquisition of PA Semi, Apple does seem to be doing basic chip R&D now. But the industry as a whole would be no where without most of the traditional semiconductor manufacturers doing R&D to keep Moore's law going.<p>I do think it is sad that Apple, with $100+ billion in cash sitting in the bank, isn't spending more on basic research. IBM, HP, Bell Labs, Xerox, et al delivered a lot of serendipitous discoveries by spending money on stuff with no immediate product focus or return. Apple is sucking up the lion share of the mobile revolution's profits, but I think a bigger fraction of that could be channeled back into basic R&D as a whole.