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Agree. It wasn’t really until around the iPhone 4 that the iPhone seemed to find its stride, which was released at least three years after this interview. Befor

Agree. It wasn’t really until around the iPhone 4 that the iPhone seemed to find its stride, which was released at least three years after this interview. Before that it’d be hard to argue it had greater utility than other high-end smartphones of the day. But what Jobs and Apple had was a longterm vision… And exceptional marketing.

dagmx 4y ago
I’d argue it was the iPhone 3G. Cheaper, had an App Store and had the data speeds to combine with that burgeoning app ecosystem. It’s arguably the phone that made GPS navigation popular for everyone, and consuming media on your phone on the go. It kickstarted an entire economy with the App Store. Coming from Symbian UIQ (on a Sony P1), that was night and day. The first iPhone wasn’t that interesting other than the multitouch capabilities for people with high end smartphones. The iPhone 3G made everyone sit up and take notice. You could get apps to do all the stuff you’d buy one off gadgets for , and it was way easier than downloading and installing jar files, hoping they’d support your phone. To me the iPhone 3G was the point where it went from “okay this thing is a weird luxury statement” to “why would you buy any other competing product?” it took quite a while before Android really found it’s footing too. To me the Galaxy S was the first real competitor to the iPhone , partly because Samsung saw what made the iPhone great and honed in on it. It’s the phone that made me switch to Android before switching back eventually to the iPhone X after a string of Android phones getting no updates in Canada, and a huge run of hardware issues with no easy way to deal with them. Come to think of it, my first Galaxy S had to be sent back because an entire SKU had bad memory.
- laumars 4y ago
  I had an Android G2 (I think it was called) which was one of the first Android handsets and it was brilliant. It already supported everything the iPhone didn’t (apps, copy paste, MMS, etc) plus had a slide out keyboard. I still rate that phone as one of the best handsets I’ve ever owned.
  - dagmx 4y ago
    I think you mean the G1 if you’re talking about having a phone prior to when iOS 3 launched. The thing is that lots of phones had a lot of the iPhone features before the iPhone came out. Heck, a Symbian S90 or UIQ device would have had more features on paper than both early iOS and Android. That’s not what made it unique, and I didn’t really get that till I switched to the iPhone 3G. It’s never been Apple’s MO to just be features on a spec sheet. At the time smartphones were for business people or techies. A ton of buttons and various attempts to hide them (slide out, flip out, etc…) and various attempts to become media devices (ngage). The iPhone (the OG and the 3G) changed all that by being simple. It introduced an easy way to get apps, a giant screen with which to consume content and most importantly, it introduced multitouch+capacitive touch to the masses. It wasn’t the first at any of those but it was the first to put everything in such a streamlined package and pair it with a decent screen. What they did was redefine who smartphones were for. It went from business people and techies to normies in the blink of an eye. There were all screen devices before them (the LG prada) , more feature full phones like the Symbian, Blackberry, Windows CE and Android devices. iPhone killed off all of those that couldn’t get in line with the path it built. I used to be a die hard Android guy, but they really only took off in mass appeal much later. Maybe it was because Symbian and Blackberry devices were dying , but it also coincided with Android offerings simplifying like the iPhone and focusing on streamlined experiences.
    - seba_dos1 4y ago
      > What they did was redefine who smartphones were for. To be honest, I'm not sure why the original iPhone is even considered a smartphone. It was a shiny feature phone disguised as one, so it sure targeted other kinds of audiences than smartphones did back in the day. I remember being excited about rumors since I expected an actual smartphone, but got incredibly disappointed once it was actually announced.

dagmx 4y ago

I’d argue it was the iPhone 3G. Cheaper, had an App Store and had the data speeds to combine with that burgeoning app ecosystem. It’s arguably the phone that made GPS navigation popular for everyone, and consuming media on your phone on the go. It kickstarted an entire economy with the App Store. Coming from Symbian UIQ (on a Sony P1), that was night and day. The first iPhone wasn’t that interesting other than the multitouch capabilities for people with high end smartphones. The iPhone 3G made everyone sit up and take notice. You could get apps to do all the stuff you’d buy one off gadgets for , and it was way easier than downloading and installing jar files, hoping they’d support your phone. To me the iPhone 3G was the point where it went from “okay this thing is a weird luxury statement” to “why would you buy any other competing product?” it took quite a while before Android really found it’s footing too. To me the Galaxy S was the first real competitor to the iPhone , partly because Samsung saw what made the iPhone great and honed in on it. It’s the phone that made me switch to Android before switching back eventually to the iPhone X after a string of Android phones getting no updates in Canada, and a huge run of hardware issues with no easy way to deal with them. Come to think of it, my first Galaxy S had to be sent back because an entire SKU had bad memory.

laumars 4y ago
I had an Android G2 (I think it was called) which was one of the first Android handsets and it was brilliant. It already supported everything the iPhone didn’t (apps, copy paste, MMS, etc) plus had a slide out keyboard. I still rate that phone as one of the best handsets I’ve ever owned.
- dagmx 4y ago
  I think you mean the G1 if you’re talking about having a phone prior to when iOS 3 launched. The thing is that lots of phones had a lot of the iPhone features before the iPhone came out. Heck, a Symbian S90 or UIQ device would have had more features on paper than both early iOS and Android. That’s not what made it unique, and I didn’t really get that till I switched to the iPhone 3G. It’s never been Apple’s MO to just be features on a spec sheet. At the time smartphones were for business people or techies. A ton of buttons and various attempts to hide them (slide out, flip out, etc…) and various attempts to become media devices (ngage). The iPhone (the OG and the 3G) changed all that by being simple. It introduced an easy way to get apps, a giant screen with which to consume content and most importantly, it introduced multitouch+capacitive touch to the masses. It wasn’t the first at any of those but it was the first to put everything in such a streamlined package and pair it with a decent screen. What they did was redefine who smartphones were for. It went from business people and techies to normies in the blink of an eye. There were all screen devices before them (the LG prada) , more feature full phones like the Symbian, Blackberry, Windows CE and Android devices. iPhone killed off all of those that couldn’t get in line with the path it built. I used to be a die hard Android guy, but they really only took off in mass appeal much later. Maybe it was because Symbian and Blackberry devices were dying , but it also coincided with Android offerings simplifying like the iPhone and focusing on streamlined experiences.
  - seba_dos1 4y ago
    > What they did was redefine who smartphones were for. To be honest, I'm not sure why the original iPhone is even considered a smartphone. It was a shiny feature phone disguised as one, so it sure targeted other kinds of audiences than smartphones did back in the day. I remember being excited about rumors since I expected an actual smartphone, but got incredibly disappointed once it was actually announced.