Many already mentioned that the idea of a perfect phone even without being held back by patents is close to near impossible. Too many people with different likes and dislikes.
So back to the original question, I do think patents are holding back development of great devices. The patent process is so skewed and broken that creating a great device will be both difficult and expensive. How can one person patent just an idea with no real work to even support how possible it is. How can a person patent two handle and patent it for people who doesn't know how to jumprope. Some ideas are basic common sense but patents are allowed to be created. One-Click purchase, again one of those common sense patent that should go away.
In that sense a lot of "common" idea that are patented does hinder and prevent development of good/great products.
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Many already mentioned that the idea of a perfect phone even without being held back by patents is close to near impossible. Too many people with different likes and dislikes. So back to the original question, I do think patents are holding back development of great devices. The patent process is so skewed and broken that creating a great device will be both difficult and expensive. How can one person patent just an idea with no real work to even support how possible it is. How can a person patent two handle and patent it for people who doesn't know how to jumprope. Some ideas are basic common sense but patents are allowed to be created. One-Click purchase, again one of those common sense patent that should go away. In that sense a lot of "common" idea that are patented does hinder and prevent development of good/great products.