[simonh]

> You are comparing across industries.

That's the whole point. The argument is that Apple is pivoting into a different industry.

% of revenue spent on R&D would not tell you much here. If a company with $10m revenue spends the same % revenue on R&D as VW, does that mean it's possible for it to bringing out a new line of cars? Setting up to manufacture a car costs a large amount of absolute $, so comparing absolute spend makes sense here.