Runaway!

Seriously, there are lots of great careers for someone in your position to pursue, why go into something where the deck is completely stacked against you? Even if you do succeed it will take longer, and not be to the level of where you could have been in an another career track. Take it from someone who has been through that ringer, if you do go for a PhD it should only be because you have a plan for an immediate exit from academia when you finish it (i.e. you are just "getting your union card").

The fact that you are questioning tells me you might not truly want this, and the only, only time I would ever suggest someone follow this track is if they have an unbelievable burning desire for it. That's what it will take!

"I'm not afraid" you say? You will be.

Or rather, the entire system is set up the redirect many of your most productive and innovative years into glorifying and enriching old people, who will reward you with crumbs, and the promise that you just *might* get to be like them some day (but probably won't). The science job market is not a market, it is a highly engineered ponzi scheme. Tech workers should be happy to be in a market where:

1) What you can do is more important than your title
2) You get paid well early, and can move up the pay scale quickly
3) The old people don't control everything, and if they can't hack it, they're out

This is what a healthy job market looks like.

IANAL, but this is settled law, and the answer is no, GM can't and neither can Apple. Doing this without a license is "reverse engineering" and is protected. So Apple has no basis here other than intimidation and a promise of guaranteed compatibility (but if your reverse engineering is good your stuff will be as compatible as the next guy's).