> 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 hindsigh

> 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.