&quot;Why doesn&#x27;t it bode well?&quot;<p>For investors, i meant.<p>&quot; The transistor, the laser, Unix, information theory, and a giant number of other things which form the underpinnings of modern technology came out of Bell Labs, which is the epitome of a place with a large research budget and no specific &quot;next thing to monetize&quot; that the spending was directed towards.&quot;<p>That was research for research&#x27;s sake.  It was, explicitly, not directed at ever making money, but instead, advancing the state of the art.  I don&#x27;t think any of the companies mentioned, or Apple, are doing it for that reason, and for <i>them</i> it does not bode well, because they are hoping to make money.<p>I could also point out that Bell Labs made any money at all through licensing those inventions. That is also not Apple&#x27;s business model :)