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I don't really understand the thought that Apple created the smartphone. It was essentially a logical next step in mobile development. Phones were big and clunk
by celticninja 11y ago
I don't really understand the thought that Apple created the smartphone. It was essentially a logical next step in mobile development. Phones were big and clunky, then they got smaller, then they hit features, then they got bigger to accommodate features, then they got more powerful to deal with the features, then they were mini computers.
- jhbadger 11y agoAlso, the smartphone is pretty much a combination of a PDA (which existed since the mid 1990s, eg. the Palm Pilot, or even Apple's own Newton) plus a phone.
- T-A 11y agoAs did smartphones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia_9000_Communicator
- lmm 11y agoOne of Gibson's recurring themes is that enough money is like being in the future. Apple couldn't do anything on a technical level that other manufacturers couldn't. But they were the only company that could charge $500 for a phone (at a time when high-end premium phones cost less than half that), play hardball with the carriers, and have people buy it. Which, it turns out, is a lot like leaping a couple of years into the future.
- digi_owl 11y agoApple also had the attention of more than the tech press, thanks to being the de-facto standard in media production.