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It's interesting how people completely forget the early attempts and false starts at things. There was a brief period of time when I thought the iPhone had bom

It's interesting how people completely forget the early attempts and false starts at things. There was a brief period of time when I thought the iPhone had bombed. I'd heard that after launching iTunes, Apple was coming out with a phone in conjunction with Cingular, the media was in a frenzy, and I wonder how many people remember it today: https://macdailynews.com/2005/09/07/apple_motorola_cingular_debut_worlds_first_itunes_mobile_phone/ https://macdailynews.com/2005/09/07/apple_motorola_cingular_... A comment on the above article from "Jeff": "$250 for a friggin phone? Not on your life. I’ll stay with my cheap Nokia." I looked at it in a Cingular store, went "meh" and moved on.

jiggawatts 5y ago
Early attempts often fail because the technology just isn't there. When the iPhone came along, it needed no new technologies that didn't exist elsewhere. It was a better overall design that integrated existing things. However, it would not have been successful if attempted in 1995 or 2000. Too early. The kind of thing that I'm complaining about is when a technology exists, is already mass-market elsewhere, but certain vendors just refuse to sell it to you in other markets. Often for absurd reasons, such as artificial market segmentation, or a perception that some things are "enterprise" or for "content creators" and hence all associated products need an extra zero or two in their price. Do 4K and even 8K OLEDs exist? Yes! Do OLEDs with the PPI (resolution) of a typical PC screen exist? Yes! Do 120 Hz OLEDs exist? Yes! Can you buy this combination as a 24-32" PC monitor? No! Can you buy this combination as a 48" or larger television? Sure!
- perl4ever 5y ago
  > it would not have been successful if attempted in 1995 or 2000. Too early. My point was they flopped a very short time before the iPhone, so without hindsight, it wasn't obvious they would hit a home run almost immediately. The iPod was the big hit, along with iTunes, and it seemed entirely possible they would never have another. The lame, overpriced first attempt at a music playing phone only reinforced that. It might be forgotten these days that the iTunes store considerably predated the iPhone.

jiggawatts 5y ago

Early attempts often fail because the technology just isn't there. When the iPhone came along, it needed no new technologies that didn't exist elsewhere. It was a better overall design that integrated existing things. However, it would not have been successful if attempted in 1995 or 2000. Too early. The kind of thing that I'm complaining about is when a technology exists, is already mass-market elsewhere, but certain vendors just refuse to sell it to you in other markets. Often for absurd reasons, such as artificial market segmentation, or a perception that some things are "enterprise" or for "content creators" and hence all associated products need an extra zero or two in their price. Do 4K and even 8K OLEDs exist? Yes! Do OLEDs with the PPI (resolution) of a typical PC screen exist? Yes! Do 120 Hz OLEDs exist? Yes! Can you buy this combination as a 24-32" PC monitor? No! Can you buy this combination as a 48" or larger television? Sure!

perl4ever 5y ago
> it would not have been successful if attempted in 1995 or 2000. Too early. My point was they flopped a very short time before the iPhone, so without hindsight, it wasn't obvious they would hit a home run almost immediately. The iPod was the big hit, along with iTunes, and it seemed entirely possible they would never have another. The lame, overpriced first attempt at a music playing phone only reinforced that. It might be forgotten these days that the iTunes store considerably predated the iPhone.