5 ms·

> Steve Jobs never really invented anything Would we have the iPhone if Steve Jobs were never born?

by TechBro8615 4y ago

kyriakos 4y ago
Most likely yes, maybe even by a different company
- foobarbecue 4y ago
  Maybe it would have been called the mePhone
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- astrange 4y ago
  There were already smartphones like BlackBerry and Danger. None of them were "the iPhone".
  - wkat4242 4y ago
    No but someone else would have made it eventually. Maybe a little bit later. Tech does not happen in a vacuum, even in earlier centuries the same invention happened around the same time in different parts of the world.
dommer 4y ago
I believe Steve Jobs hate the idea of turning the iPod into a phone. Rejected the idea from his smartest people for a long time.
reustle 4y ago
Definitely. Connected palm pilots / PDAs existed for years before.
- kec 4y ago
  Apple invented the PDA (even the term) with the Newton in 1992. Steve wasn't with the company at the time, but given the company wouldn't have existed without him it isn't really that much of a stretch to say they wouldn't necessarily exist without his influence.
  - estebank 4y ago
    You seem to subscribe to the "great man" theory of history, while the people that disagree with you subscribe to a "human dynamics" theory of history (think Hari Sheldon's psychohistory in the Foundation books). You can point at some "great man" in history and say "if it wasn't for this person's actions history would have been different", but over long enough timelines I believe some things are inevitable, given the wider context in a point in time. If Columbus hadn't convinced the Spanish crown to seek new trade routes through the West, some other individual would have enticed another colonialist European power to so, with similar results for native Americans over the following century, for example. > You must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown. ... Before he can remake his society, his society must make him. — Herbert Spencer, The Study of Sociology
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - reustle 4y ago
    According you Wikipedia, they started with Psion in the 80s > The first PDA, the Organiser, was released in 1984 by Psion, followed by Psion's Series 3, in 1991. The latter began to resemble the more familiar PDA style, including a full keyboard https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant

> Steve Jobs never really invented anything Would we have the iPhone if Steve Jobs were never born?

kyriakos 4y ago

Most likely yes, maybe even by a different company

foobarbecue 4y ago
Maybe it would have been called the mePhone
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
astrange 4y ago
There were already smartphones like BlackBerry and Danger. None of them were "the iPhone".
- wkat4242 4y ago
  No but someone else would have made it eventually. Maybe a little bit later. Tech does not happen in a vacuum, even in earlier centuries the same invention happened around the same time in different parts of the world.

dommer 4y ago

I believe Steve Jobs hate the idea of turning the iPod into a phone. Rejected the idea from his smartest people for a long time.

reustle 4y ago

Definitely. Connected palm pilots / PDAs existed for years before.

kec 4y ago
Apple invented the PDA (even the term) with the Newton in 1992. Steve wasn't with the company at the time, but given the company wouldn't have existed without him it isn't really that much of a stretch to say they wouldn't necessarily exist without his influence.
- estebank 4y ago
  You seem to subscribe to the "great man" theory of history, while the people that disagree with you subscribe to a "human dynamics" theory of history (think Hari Sheldon's psychohistory in the Foundation books). You can point at some "great man" in history and say "if it wasn't for this person's actions history would have been different", but over long enough timelines I believe some things are inevitable, given the wider context in a point in time. If Columbus hadn't convinced the Spanish crown to seek new trade routes through the West, some other individual would have enticed another colonialist European power to so, with similar results for native Americans over the following century, for example. > You must admit that the genesis of a great man depends on the long series of complex influences which has produced the race in which he appears, and the social state into which that race has slowly grown. ... Before he can remake his society, his society must make him. — Herbert Spencer, The Study of Sociology
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- reustle 4y ago
  According you Wikipedia, they started with Psion in the 80s > The first PDA, the Organiser, was released in 1984 by Psion, followed by Psion's Series 3, in 1991. The latter began to resemble the more familiar PDA style, including a full keyboard https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_digital_assistant