All Apple did was take the PDA from a geek only device and made it cool for the masses with marketing. When I used to bust out my Handspring Visor to take notes, check my calendar, get a contact number, or play a game or use Vindigo or Avantgo (which today would be called apps) I was looked at as if I were a huge nerd and/or geek. Today no one would bat an eye or think twice about busting out their PDA/phone to do those things.
All things geeky eventually become cool, but Apple helped move the PDA along with the iPhone. Not that I would ever buy the overpriced piece of hardware that is lacking in many ways versus my Sony Ericsson P1i.
If Apple really felt they had such a hefty lead on the market the comments would never have been made, this article would not exist and I wouldn't have been making these comments.
Derek Overbey
· 1 month ago
I've seen and used numerous other smartphones on the market and IMO, they do not hold a candle to the iPhone. The thought and design that went into the original and continues with the upgrades is second to none. Now the network is another story.
Steve B ✔
· 1 month ago
You must have forgotten about Android. The IPHONE is too restrictive.
Peter Kirn
· 1 month ago
Christina, you're following up Cook's hyperbolic statement with more. There's no question that the iPhone has been a new benchmark, but the phones supposedly "reacting" to it were in development before the iPhone. Cook is (presumably knowingly) ignoring the gestation time of these platforms. Embedded and mobile Linux predate June 2007. Other teams worked on multitouch, including on small screens. There were other devices with basically exactly the combination the iPhone had - multimedia + web browsing + touch + phone. The fact that, say, Windows Mobile (nee PocketPC and CE) didn't execute terribly well doesn't change the history here - and technology is replete with cases in which early instances of an idea weren't as well executed as later iterations. (in fact, one would HOPE that was the case)
Google acquired the team that developed Android way back in 2005 - the thing was even CALLED Android. They had a team that had been at Danger. People had been working on the same concept at Palm, and before that, General Magic, and before that, a team initiated by Sculley AT APPLE.
"One could argue..." -- yes, I suppose one could, but one would be wrong.
That's not to take away from the achievements of the iPhone, but you ought to be able to do that without rewriting the history of the technology.
It's Cook's job to say competitors are still trying to catch up, but let's examine, too, what he's saying here - recall that iPhone 1.0 didn't even have application development AT ALL. So... what he's saying doesn't make any sense.
Nate
· 1 month ago
You say "There were other devices with basically exactly the combination the iPhone had - multimedia + web browsing + touch + phone."
What kind of web browser exactly? One of the big 5 (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome), with the ability to cleanly and properly zoom in/out and pan web pages? True, the iPhone has no flash, which sucks (not that I believe the iPhone has enough CPU/RAM to deal with flash anyway).
You say touch was included in these other devices? I have to admit I haven't laid hands on many other smartphones, but the ones I have seen have extremely annoying, useless touch screens. I haven't seen a single other device with a touch screen that responds to *very* light touches of the finger (some of these other devices still operate on physical pressure only, and thus don't detect touch unless you push harder). *Nobody* beats Apple in touch screen quality right now.
Do these other devices have a full OS platform supporting a standard UI style? Or do they have a crappy hacked-together firmware not based on any real OS, with ugly and non-standardized UI (menus, icons, etc)?
Are these other devices as flat as the iPhone? Within 24 hours of buying my iPhone, I realized I would never again buy a phone + mp3 device thicker than the iPhone. It's the first device that fits comfortably inside front jean pockets - no more belt holster for the phone. Of course, it sucks that you lose a bit in functionality due to this focus on the thin phone - no replaceable battery, lower RAM and CPU than would otherwise be possible, etc.
I'm actually not an Apple fanboy (iPhone is the only Apple product I own). But I wouldn't hesitate for a second if anyone offered to trade phones with me - hell no!
trenoops
· 1 month ago
Any smart phone that came out post iPhone was a reaction to the iPhone no matter when development was started - First To Market Won this time
gwoodard
· 1 month ago
Really? ..this Apple guy has just demonstrated he is not of this earth because he never once had to copy/paste anything (until June), use the phone one-handed, or play a downloaded flash video..., or use the phone anywhere in Seattle or wherever else ATT has no bars, etc. Basically compared to the first blackberry, there is no comparison when it comes to one handed *productivity*. Remember they are call hand-helds not hands-held.
yorker69
· 1 month ago
I have never understood how Blackberry have sold so many phones, so cannot comment on their antiquated system, but having mainly had HTC products, and thought they were as good as it gets, iPhone has just totally blown me away. I cannot believe that I put up with so much hassle with the other phones and their inferior OS for so long!
jaycclee
· 1 month ago
I have to admit that Apple did a very good job to open consumers' eyes on Smartphone market. Other manufacturers paid the price for overlook this market. But Apple must do a better job to satisfy users appetite. Otherwise, 85,000 apps are just a number. Not everyone will use all apps in their app store after all.
djtonyb
· 1 month ago
The HTC Touch was released before the iPhone, and runs WinMo, supports swipe actions but not multitouch... It has a huge base of available software, and if you don't like the clunky WinMo/Touchflo interface you can download several apps to customize it to your heart's content. I just don't like apple products, not since the apple ][ computers. Windows works for me, but may be a little complex for your average fanboy.
shortformblog
· 1 month ago
So … damning with faint praise, I see. Guess I'll never check out the HTC Touch then.
Here's what I'm reading out of what you just posted: No multitouch, clunky, Windows Mobile, complex.
Maybe you just put up with more crappiness than the rest of us, Tony.
djtonyb
· 1 month ago
I don't consider it crappiness, just a bad interface design by Windows. By still relying on the "Start" menu they make the phone almost unusable except with a stylus. There's an app for that ;) With a customizable interface, I can organize my apps where I want, and start any application with a couple of buttons. It syncs contacts and calenders seamlessly with outlook. Because it's Windows, it's infinitely more adaptable and hackable than relying on what Apple thinks I might find useful. Opera provides a pretty good browser, and though the screen is somewhat smaller than the iPhone, it also makes the phone much smaller. I don't do heavy duty browsing on my phone anyway, I have a netbook for that.
Matt Johnson
· 1 month ago
The problem has been that a lot of others have tried to mimick what the iPhone has done but they are even horrible at mimicking so there goes their success.
Reminds me of Sony when they talked about the Walkman. For those of you who have no idea WTF that is, case & point.
enchantingechos
· 1 month ago
Hi Tim!
I am very impressed by the iphone too! But, I'm now deciding on the iphone 3GS or the windows phone, which I saw some information posted on msn news.
Ohd I also noticed that Apple now have a store at Centre Court Shopping Centre, Wimbledon.UK, Whic is very close to me! Thankyou!
It was a wonderful Surprise!
Kind Regards,
Grace
Dara Walsh
· 1 month ago
I think for me it boils down to two key points. 1. the competition have had to follow suit or sink completely, even if they don't necessarily produce a better or more popular smartphone, but enough to keep up with the apetite of those consumers loyal to their brand to stop them from switching and grab some marignal share of the market. 2. Apple only have 1 phone and plenty of resources to plough into it to make it the best bloody phone out there. Think of the likes of Nokia, or other competition, they still have to plough resources into their other phones etc and there has to be some element of dilution there.
Apple are bringing years of experience and innovation from the desktop computing years to the iphone, and it is just an extension of this, just smaller! It is probaby far easier for a company like apple to move into the phone market than the large traditional phone manufacturers to move into what is essentialy the computer market, more to learn, more mistakes to be made, and as mentioned above, more diluted.
I agree also the app store is paramount also, and their advertising really focuses on that now, instead of the features of the phone. You can really see their ads showing how the iphone can be part of your daily life, because they have an app for that!
As I think I maybe mentioned before in a previous comment. I think if anyone is going to be a threat to apple in this arena, they will have to come out with something game changing like the iphone was, or when camera's were first added to phones, but that game change may end up being the next gen iphone from apple! or rumoured apple tablet?
enchantingechos
· 1 month ago
Hi Tim!
I am very impressed by the iphone too! But, I'm deciding on the iphone 3GS or the windows phone, of which there was some information on msn news.
Oh! and I also noticed that Apple have a new store at Centre Court Shopping Centre,Wimbledon.UK,Which is very close to me!
Thankyou! It was a Wonderful Surprise!
Kind Regards,
Grace
Facebook User
· 1 month ago
I LOL'ed so hard... (c&p, bluetooth, qwerty keyboard, closed ecosystem...)
BarryKvs
· 1 month ago
this is my very simple thought on the matter...
how many other cell phones have we discussed for so long after their entry to the market place. point blank period.
everything that comes out gets compared to it.
Taranfx
· 1 month ago
Raise Hands if you agree! Atleast, I do! Let's see How far Motorola Droid can get it.
E Kristopher-Hartley
· 1 month ago
Everyone else is still playing catch-up to the first gen iPhone? Really Apple?
I'm sure you must be right - I mean let's just look at what the most recent 3.0 and 3G S gave the others to catch up to shall we?
Copy/Paste, 16GB/32GB Storage, 3.2 Megapixel Camera, Video recording and editing, MMS, Built-in compass, the ecosystem to support AR Apps, and more recently the facility to rearrange the order of their apps (as long as you're plugged into iTunes on your computer of course!)
Now if only some other phone manufacturers could offer this... Oh wait - they do!
I'm sorry, but Apple have lost the impetus that gave us the iPhone - yes it was revolutionary at the time - the way that it integrated so much. But they've sat on their laurels for too long and now the innovation's coming from elsewhere and it's the iPhone that's playing catch-up.
I'll give them props for the hype though - it's one thing they're still leading in!
All Comments
All things geeky eventually become cool, but Apple helped move the PDA along with the iPhone. Not that I would ever buy the overpriced piece of hardware that is lacking in many ways versus my Sony Ericsson P1i.
If Apple really felt they had such a hefty lead on the market the comments would never have been made, this article would not exist and I wouldn't have been making these comments.
Google acquired the team that developed Android way back in 2005 - the thing was even CALLED Android. They had a team that had been at Danger. People had been working on the same concept at Palm, and before that, General Magic, and before that, a team initiated by Sculley AT APPLE.
"One could argue..." -- yes, I suppose one could, but one would be wrong.
That's not to take away from the achievements of the iPhone, but you ought to be able to do that without rewriting the history of the technology.
It's Cook's job to say competitors are still trying to catch up, but let's examine, too, what he's saying here - recall that iPhone 1.0 didn't even have application development AT ALL. So... what he's saying doesn't make any sense.
What kind of web browser exactly? One of the big 5 (IE, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Chrome), with the ability to cleanly and properly zoom in/out and pan web pages? True, the iPhone has no flash, which sucks (not that I believe the iPhone has enough CPU/RAM to deal with flash anyway).
You say touch was included in these other devices? I have to admit I haven't laid hands on many other smartphones, but the ones I have seen have extremely annoying, useless touch screens. I haven't seen a single other device with a touch screen that responds to *very* light touches of the finger (some of these other devices still operate on physical pressure only, and thus don't detect touch unless you push harder). *Nobody* beats Apple in touch screen quality right now.
Do these other devices have a full OS platform supporting a standard UI style? Or do they have a crappy hacked-together firmware not based on any real OS, with ugly and non-standardized UI (menus, icons, etc)?
Are these other devices as flat as the iPhone? Within 24 hours of buying my iPhone, I realized I would never again buy a phone + mp3 device thicker than the iPhone. It's the first device that fits comfortably inside front jean pockets - no more belt holster for the phone. Of course, it sucks that you lose a bit in functionality due to this focus on the thin phone - no replaceable battery, lower RAM and CPU than would otherwise be possible, etc.
I'm actually not an Apple fanboy (iPhone is the only Apple product I own). But I wouldn't hesitate for a second if anyone offered to trade phones with me - hell no!
Here's what I'm reading out of what you just posted: No multitouch, clunky, Windows Mobile, complex.
Maybe you just put up with more crappiness than the rest of us, Tony.
Top 10 requested iPhone features - http://bit.ly/26vxIL
Cheers,
Dean
I am very impressed by the iphone too! But, I'm now deciding on the iphone 3GS or the windows phone, which I saw some information posted on msn news.
Ohd I also noticed that Apple now have a store at Centre Court Shopping Centre, Wimbledon.UK, Whic is very close to me! Thankyou!
It was a wonderful Surprise!
Kind Regards,
Grace
1. the competition have had to follow suit or sink completely, even if they don't necessarily produce a better or more popular smartphone, but enough to keep up with the apetite of those consumers loyal to their brand to stop them from switching and grab some marignal share of the market.
2. Apple only have 1 phone and plenty of resources to plough into it to make it the best bloody phone out there. Think of the likes of Nokia, or other competition, they still have to plough resources into their other phones etc and there has to be some element of dilution there.
Apple are bringing years of experience and innovation from the desktop computing years to the iphone, and it is just an extension of this, just smaller! It is probaby far easier for a company like apple to move into the phone market than the large traditional phone manufacturers to move into what is essentialy the computer market, more to learn, more mistakes to be made, and as mentioned above, more diluted.
I agree also the app store is paramount also, and their advertising really focuses on that now, instead of the features of the phone. You can really see their ads showing how the iphone can be part of your daily life, because they have an app for that!
As I think I maybe mentioned before in a previous comment. I think if anyone is going to be a threat to apple in this arena, they will have to come out with something game changing like the iphone was, or when camera's were first added to phones, but that game change may end up being the next gen iphone from apple! or rumoured apple tablet?
I am very impressed by the iphone too! But, I'm deciding on the iphone 3GS or the windows phone, of which there was some information on msn news.
Oh! and I also noticed that Apple have a new store at Centre Court Shopping Centre,Wimbledon.UK,Which is very close to me!
Thankyou! It was a Wonderful Surprise!
Kind Regards,
Grace
how many other cell phones have we discussed for so long after their entry to the market place.
point blank period.
everything that comes out gets compared to it.
Let's see How far Motorola Droid can get it.
I'm sure you must be right - I mean let's just look at what the most recent 3.0 and 3G S gave the others to catch up to shall we?
Copy/Paste, 16GB/32GB Storage, 3.2 Megapixel Camera, Video recording and editing, MMS, Built-in compass, the ecosystem to support AR Apps, and more recently the facility to rearrange the order of their apps (as long as you're plugged into iTunes on your computer of course!)
Now if only some other phone manufacturers could offer this... Oh wait - they do!
I'm sorry, but Apple have lost the impetus that gave us the iPhone - yes it was revolutionary at the time - the way that it integrated so much. But they've sat on their laurels for too long and now the innovation's coming from elsewhere and it's the iPhone that's playing catch-up.
I'll give them props for the hype though - it's one thing they're still leading in!