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"Most of the ‘needs’ that the iPhone X serves didn’t even exist when the first iPhone came out." Didn't they? It takes pictures. It sends emails and messages.

"Most of the ‘needs’ that the iPhone X serves didn’t even exist when the first iPhone came out." Didn't they? It takes pictures. It sends emails and messages. It watches media. It listens to music. It plays games. It's a web terminal. It's an alarm clock. All of these needs most certainly existed, and the iPhone has sold billions of units by fulfilling those needs beautifully in a more convenient, portable fashion. Of course the market matures. Beyond some hand-wavy nebulous conjecture, there is a limit to what the device can do without getting into science fiction, especially when your basis of comparison is one year over the next. If the complaint is that Apple hasn't completely upset everything in a single year, that's a completely unreasonable, irrational expectation.

zepto 8y ago
Nowhere is anyone complaining that Apple hasn’t upset everything in a single year. Nice straw man though. At one point, the iPhone itself was science fiction. The iPhone X was science fiction when the iPhone came out. Even after the iPhone came out people continued to be dismissive of its potential. By all means be like them and believe that pocket computers are now done. My point is twofold - one is that I think there is a huge room for continued progress in this field. And the other is that the path of progress of the iPhone has involved delivering significant capabilities that enabled people to interact with it in new ways, and this has driven demand. The rate of delivering those new ways of interacting has slowed. We both agree on that. But you think that’s because there is no more progress to be made and that pocket computers will not gain meaningful new features. I don’t believe that.
- endorphone 8y ago
  Everything isn't a "straw man". You specifically highlighted the, to you, negligible difference between the iPhone X and iPhone XS -- phones over a one year difference, yet still with a number of significant improvements -- and when I questioned that you claimed that I must therefore believe that the iPhone XS is the "pinnacle of a pocket computer". Which is of course absurd. But you are jumping between "not enough change over a year" and "over an infinite timeline imagine what is possible". Try to rationalize your thoughts.
  - zepto 8y ago
    You’re the one who wrote: “Beyond some hand-wavy nebulous conjecture, there is a limit to what the device can do.” And you are the only person taking about infinite timelines.
    - endorphone 8y ago
      You seem to have not noticed the next part of that sentence - "especially when your basis of comparison is one year over the next"
      - zepto 8y ago
        It doesn’t change anything. I’m simply saying that year over year, Apple has typically had significant features to drive adoption, and that has slowed. But it doesn’t need to have, since there is much more to be done. I don’t know why you’re talking about infinite timelines, but you are saying the market is matured and the job of the smartphone is done. We just disagree about how much innovation is still possible in the space.

zepto 8y ago

Nowhere is anyone complaining that Apple hasn’t upset everything in a single year. Nice straw man though. At one point, the iPhone itself was science fiction. The iPhone X was science fiction when the iPhone came out. Even after the iPhone came out people continued to be dismissive of its potential. By all means be like them and believe that pocket computers are now done. My point is twofold - one is that I think there is a huge room for continued progress in this field. And the other is that the path of progress of the iPhone has involved delivering significant capabilities that enabled people to interact with it in new ways, and this has driven demand. The rate of delivering those new ways of interacting has slowed. We both agree on that. But you think that’s because there is no more progress to be made and that pocket computers will not gain meaningful new features. I don’t believe that.

endorphone 8y ago
Everything isn't a "straw man". You specifically highlighted the, to you, negligible difference between the iPhone X and iPhone XS -- phones over a one year difference, yet still with a number of significant improvements -- and when I questioned that you claimed that I must therefore believe that the iPhone XS is the "pinnacle of a pocket computer". Which is of course absurd. But you are jumping between "not enough change over a year" and "over an infinite timeline imagine what is possible". Try to rationalize your thoughts.
- zepto 8y ago
  You’re the one who wrote: “Beyond some hand-wavy nebulous conjecture, there is a limit to what the device can do.” And you are the only person taking about infinite timelines.
  - endorphone 8y ago
    You seem to have not noticed the next part of that sentence - "especially when your basis of comparison is one year over the next"
    - zepto 8y ago
      It doesn’t change anything. I’m simply saying that year over year, Apple has typically had significant features to drive adoption, and that has slowed. But it doesn’t need to have, since there is much more to be done. I don’t know why you’re talking about infinite timelines, but you are saying the market is matured and the job of the smartphone is done. We just disagree about how much innovation is still possible in the space.