[graeham]

Last year, Apple spent $1.1B on R&D (http://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AAAPL&fstype=ii&ei...). Google spent $6.6B (http://www.google.co.uk/finance?fstype=ii&q=NASDAQ:GOOG). The big spender will suprise many: Microsoft spent $10.4B (https://www.google.co.uk/finance?q=NASDAQ%3AMSFT&fstype=ii&e...).

Also, the majority of Google R&D (at least that I am aware of) is much more applied than fundamental. The Google Car and Google Glasses are cool, but they will never win Nobel Prizes.