It's easier than ever to experiment with off the shelf components if you're interested in that stuff for its own sake or you have very specific niche goals, but

It's easier than ever to experiment with off the shelf components if you're interested in that stuff for its own sake or you have very specific niche goals, but smartphones have annihilated the need for a generation worth of fun gadgetry. You don't need an MP3 player, a pager, a camcorder, a handheld video game console, a PDA, a voice recorder, a walkie talkie, a GPS device, a remote control, a calculator, etc. because your smartphone can do all of those things (and you're already carrying your smartphone anyway!). I think that's what people mean when people say "the iPhone annihilated a generation worth of fun gadgetry."