4 ms·

Looks interesting - I didn't realize the first tablets were developed 20 years ago.

freehunter 15y ago
Apple likes to take a revisionist history approach to their new products. They explicitly label them as innovative devices (which they may be) but implicitly attempt to create the perception that they've invented the device. See: iPod, iPhone, iPad. There's a huge number of people who didn't know MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets existed before the day Apple showcased them.
- gurkendoktor 15y ago
  Is there any tangible proof for this? Is it just that they don't label it a tablet, smart phone or MP3 player? It might just as well be people who are angry that their products don't receive the same media attention. I'm not saying the media are fair, but I don't buy that Apple's marketing is actively revisionist.
  - freehunter 15y ago
    Take a look at the announcement of the iPad [1]. "You can browse the web on it. It's the best browsing experience you've ever had. To see a full web page you can manipulate with your fingers." "You can turn the iPad any way you want, it automatically adjusts." "You can see your photos and flip through them." Note that I said they explicitly state that it's a tablet, a smartphone, an MP3 player, but they implicitly imply that every feature they have or device they've created has just been invented. The above quotes go a long way toward showing that. Touchscreens, even larger than the iPad, had been around for a long time. Gyroscopic screens had been around for a long time. I had one on my Lenovo tablet before the iPad was even announced. Job didn't announce it as a new tablet, he announced it as _the_ tablet, and described the features as if they were new. Looking back on the featureset he took pride in, no one would ever present something as mundane as a touchscreen picture slideshow unless they were, with a least some part of their conscious mind, trying to imply that it was a new thing. And it was easy to believe, at every launch. Tablets, consumer smartphones, and MP3 players were not hugely popular, there was a huge consumer market that had not heard of them. Did Apple enlarge the market? Sure. But Jobs implied, with a straight face, that everything they were doing was new and original. It simply wasn't. It's akin to driving a truck into the jungle and showing the natives your four-wheel-drive invention. Remember the classic Slashdot post about the announcement of the iPod in 2001. Even then, gadget-minded folks knew that the iPod was a flashy but ultimately unoriginal product. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpeSbDoeAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpeSbDoeAE
- ceejayoz 15y ago
  The innovation is making them actually worth buying.
- Bud 15y ago
  There's a huge number of people who didn't know MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets existed before the day Apple showcased them. No there's not.
tomsaffell 15y ago
The book about GO is a pretty good read: http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kaplan/dp/B0046HAJFY/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323120831&sr=1-6 http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kaplan...

Apple likes to take a revisionist history approach to their new products. They explicitly label them as innovative devices (which they may be) but implicitly attempt to create the perception that they've invented the device. See: iPod, iPhone, iPad. There's a huge number of people who didn't know MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets existed before the day Apple showcased them.

gurkendoktor 15y ago
Is there any tangible proof for this? Is it just that they don't label it a tablet, smart phone or MP3 player? It might just as well be people who are angry that their products don't receive the same media attention. I'm not saying the media are fair, but I don't buy that Apple's marketing is actively revisionist.
- freehunter 15y ago
  Take a look at the announcement of the iPad [1]. "You can browse the web on it. It's the best browsing experience you've ever had. To see a full web page you can manipulate with your fingers." "You can turn the iPad any way you want, it automatically adjusts." "You can see your photos and flip through them." Note that I said they explicitly state that it's a tablet, a smartphone, an MP3 player, but they implicitly imply that every feature they have or device they've created has just been invented. The above quotes go a long way toward showing that. Touchscreens, even larger than the iPad, had been around for a long time. Gyroscopic screens had been around for a long time. I had one on my Lenovo tablet before the iPad was even announced. Job didn't announce it as a new tablet, he announced it as _the_ tablet, and described the features as if they were new. Looking back on the featureset he took pride in, no one would ever present something as mundane as a touchscreen picture slideshow unless they were, with a least some part of their conscious mind, trying to imply that it was a new thing. And it was easy to believe, at every launch. Tablets, consumer smartphones, and MP3 players were not hugely popular, there was a huge consumer market that had not heard of them. Did Apple enlarge the market? Sure. But Jobs implied, with a straight face, that everything they were doing was new and original. It simply wasn't. It's akin to driving a truck into the jungle and showing the natives your four-wheel-drive invention. Remember the classic Slashdot post about the announcement of the iPod in 2001. Even then, gadget-minded folks knew that the iPod was a flashy but ultimately unoriginal product. [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpeSbDoeAE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PpeSbDoeAE
ceejayoz 15y ago
The innovation is making them actually worth buying.
Bud 15y ago
There's a huge number of people who didn't know MP3 players, smartphones, and tablets existed before the day Apple showcased them. No there's not.

tomsaffell 15y ago

The book about GO is a pretty good read: http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kaplan/dp/B0046HAJFY/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1323120831&sr=1-6 http://www.amazon.com/Startup-Silicon-Adventure-Jerry-Kaplan...