I think it's this attitude that's one of the biggest problems with the financial world today. There is no long game for anyone anymore. No long term investments. They want immediate returns, and they want them now.
You might see pure research as being irresponsible with your money because it isn't producing something tangible with your investment. To a small time investor, it's a mysterious non-guarantee that might net them millions later, or maybe nothing at all.
What you're failing to realize is that pure research is the very reason why you have LCD screens, capacitive multitouch, wifi, cell phones, and all that other good stuff we all take for granted these days. Without someone blowing a bit of their revenue on just playing around with neat ideas, it likely would've taken far longer for these ideas to come onto the scene.
If you want a working example, I'm fairly sure capacitive touchscreens have been bouncing around since at least the late 80's. We didn't see the idea hit it big until 2007. Would you say the money spent on researching it back in the 80's was an irresponsible waste of money?
See, Apple doesn't invest into blue sky research. They're more focused on taking ideas developed elsewhere, polishing them, and working them into products they can sell. There's nothing wrong with that. It works for Apple, and it works for their investors. You need a company like Apple, creating something usable out of other peoples raw ideas and then iterating upon it. But their focus on honing existing tech means they're far less likely to produce the next truly groundbreaking big thing. Whereas MS, who blows a fraction of their revenue on giving a bunch of smart dudes and chicks money to think of...whatever, is more likely to introduce a new technology that brings us into THE GOLDEN AGE OF TOMORROW!
Yeah, I had to get corny there at the end there.
Anyway, long story short.
Blue sky R&D - raw future technology.
Apple style R&D - good fun stuff made out of that raw technology.
Disdain it all you want, Apple wouldn't be around without someone else doing raw research. And we wouldn't be using the ideas created through raw research without Apple mixing them up into some good.
