NPEs help make the market for patents more efficient -- small firms invent and have a hard time protecting their patent? They sell it to an NPE. Is the system imperfect? Probably. Worst case scenario, a big firm get frivolously sued and loses -- this is just a transfer of money from Apple to the NPE and the small inventor. Will Apple be less likely to invent as a consequence? I don't think so, but you can prove me wrong. Best case scenario, small actors are incentivized to invent and sell their ideas in the market for patents.

So why is everybody outraged? Because the lawful licensing agreements don't make it to the news. The outrageous cases do.