4 ms·

I don't think something like the iphone specifically existed before its debut, but I could be wrong.

• ilovecaching 8y ago
  Yes, check out the LG Prada. It was actually thought at the time that Apple had copied that design. Microsoft also pushed tablets long before Apple ever did. Like I said, Apple repackages things.
  • fulafel 8y ago
    Apple was in the tablet game pretty early with the Newton.
    • ilovecaching 8y ago
      Granted the Newton was the predecessor of the ipad, although it was more a PDA like device. The Microsoft tablet was very much an early ipad.
      • sbuk 8y ago
        Sculley coined the term “PDA” in direct reference to Newton.
      • fulafel 8y ago
        What do you feel makes tablets like the iPad and PDAs different categories?
• jshevek 8y ago
  Which characteristics do you consider distinctive? I think of capacitive touch with no keyboard, but such phones did exist. Costs for those kinds of screens had been coming down before the iphone launched. It was obvious we'd see more capacitive screen phones before the iphone launch, though Apple certainly accelerated it.
  • timcederman 8y ago
    Gesture UI (the audience literally gasped when Steve scrolled through a long list by flinging it, and applauded pinch-to-zoom), and actually using best of class components (except the camera). All the other smartphones then were laggy/poor screen/plastic shells/etc. Their UIs stunk. It was a huge step up with a bunch of key incremental innovations in a single package.
    • natch 8y ago
      Exactly. And he said Apple was five years ahead of everyone else, and I think he was right, or it may have even been an understatement, because trying out competing phones years afterward, they were still more clunky than any iPhone.
  • natch 8y ago
    There was nothing even remotely close to the touch UI Apple created and enabled with multi-touch.