So I assume you missed the article about Apple becoming the most valuable company in history. It what way are they lacking recognition? In what way are they suffering monetarily? If no other competition existed, would they be making even more money? sure, most likely, but it isn't like they are being put out of business because others are following their footsteps. The market is big enough for many, and growing.
What I don't understand is why Apple feels that it is entitled to exclusive rights to things that should NOT be patentable. A rectangle with rounded corners? a wedge shaped laptop? Slide to unlock? None of these warrant a patent. None of these should have any sort of exclusivity attached to them. It's insanity not only that they have been actually awarded such ludicrous patents, but also that people think that they are legitimate in any way shape or form.
You should have copyright on your exact software code so that it can't be copied word for word, you should be able to patent your SPECIFIC hardware design. You should be able to patent your SPECIFIC inventions (and I mean ACTUAL inventions, not, we took something that has been done, and we made it look pretty), but you shouldn't be awarded a patent on simple and vague ideas, and that goes for all companies, not just Apple. Things like attaching photos to emails, or other ridiculous patents that sound like an article in the Onion, unfortunately it is reality, not satire. Patents were meant to allow people to make money from their genuinely new inventions. They weren't meant to allow people to make money because they thought that hey, wouldn't it be great if you could use your fingers as fingers and point at things? Patent the heck out of the hardware that you design if it's new. Patent the heck out of the process required to physically put that hardware together. But no, you shouldn't get a patent on the idea of pushing something with your finger on a screen or the fact that your screen is a rectangle and that it is surrounded with a black bezel, like, oh, I don't know, every single flipping flat screen monitor and tv that ever hit the market before the iPhone or iPad were even considered!
[/nearly incoherent rant]