Feel free to bookmark my post and come back to make fun of me if I’m wrong.
I don’t think that there is any “merely” anything. I think it’s a complicated process with tons of patents that you get a license to use when you pay for a developer membership.
Do you believe homebrew software for game consoles is illegal? Do you hold that same opinion for apps offered for jailbroken iDevices?
Patents cover specific implementations. A lightbulb is patented. A specific machine that is connected to one cannot infringe on the patent for the lughtbulb itself, since it doesn't implement its inner mechanisms.
I don’t think that there is any “merely” anything. I think it’s a complicated process with tons of patents that you get a license to use when you pay for a developer membership.