LCD screens. Did Apple invent those? Touch Screens. Did Apple invent those? Low power microprocessors and memory. Did Apple invent those?
It seems as though all the essential ingredients were created by other people, and their combination into a small portable computer seems rather obvious to me. Isn't one of the rules of patenting that it can't be something which is obvious to people who work in an industry?
Copyrighting your particular style or design I can see. But what basis is there for a patent?
Apple invented the multitouch on a transparent screen. . . and holds the patent on it. . . which is what made the modern smart phones possible. You can make all kinds of excuses you want, Diogenes, but you don't cut it. Apple made it all work. The others did not. If it was so "obvious to you" why are you not the inventor??? Why are you not the CEO of the largest business in the world? Why are you not a multibillionaire? Monday morning inventors are a dime a hundred. . . and critics like you are pathetic. Your question about what purpose there is in a patent is patently absurd. . . and even more pathetic. Read our Constitution. it's in there.