I thought the same thing ... and wonder how Apple can possibly believe this is patentable.
Design patents only protect key aspects of product design, they are more limited, and -- evidently like this one -- they're kept secret until they are granted.
There's a good chance this device is actually going to happen.
If it's not a design patent then they are really only claiming one or two small elements of this as innovation. Read any patent; they're all like this at some level.
This is to protect (somewhat) against lookalikes.
One interesting part is that they mention an inductive charging coil. Cursory reading didn’t tell me whether that’s for keeping a mouse charged or for charging the device.
Right. Fits with my understanding. Basically they (and others -- HP/LG) use these patent classes to protect aspects of technical designs in the way that Coca Cola used design patents to protect their classic bottle shape.
So possibly not an actual design patent but something with the same narrow scope.
I guess it's an open question as to whether they should be allowed, but they surely seem largely to be easy to avoid in good faith.