The obviousness bar should be raised much higher so that if a lone undergraduate could arrive at a solution it is not a patentable solution. If we are going to entertain software patents then they should be used to cover major investments, like it works in pharmaceutical industry. Most patents are not of this kind, and most things in iPhone are just straightforward progression of prior art.
And average one, obviously. This isn't an objective measure, but there are similar concepts in jurisprudence.[1] Patent system was created in a different time, but at least to me in the present it only makes sense to use it to protect ideas that necessitated hundreds of man-years of investment by competent teams and not to be used for land grabs for trivial ideas that anyone can arrive at just by virtue of being a pioneer one's field.
The obviousness bar should be raised much higher so that if a lone undergraduate could arrive at a solution it is not a patentable solution. If we are going to entertain software patents then they should be used to cover major investments, like it works in pharmaceutical industry. Most patents are not of this kind, and most things in iPhone are just straightforward progression of prior art.