Seems to be a little too little too late, print being on the decline.
But isn't the digital press industry growing pretty rapidly?
of course, technology companies apply for patents for nearly every idea they come up with ... I'm sure Apple (and others) have thousands of patents that never turn into anything. Just because someone turned up a patent application describing an idea doesn't mean apple is putting any money into R&D for it.
The fact they filed a patent application may indicate they have no desire to try to make it themselves, typically with a new idea most companies will wait to file patents until pretty close to release so competitors don't' get to see what they are up to.