intellectual property

Yesterday I posted the following on another thread, but would probably be best to discuss on a new thread:

I am hoping there is someone on this forum that can enlighten me as to what part of their IP is so valuable? The margins only stack up as a pure licensing/royalty model, but I'm still unclear what they provide that isn't already achievable and/or in the public domain?

And please don't say it's reading barcodes with cellphones unless you can explain how their technology differs from this:
http://mobilecodes.nokia.com/scan.htm

I would love to believe in this story, but it doesn't stack up without this missing piece in my understanding.

Thanks