4 ms·

And EVERYBODY copied the original iPhone, otherwise we'd still all be walking around with Blackberries, Symbian Nokia phones, and stylus driven Windows Mobile p

And EVERYBODY copied the original iPhone, otherwise we'd still all be walking around with Blackberries, Symbian Nokia phones, and stylus driven Windows Mobile phones. Why even bother pointing any of this out?

rickhanlonii 13y ago
No, they really didn't. Can't we all stop pretenting that the iPhone wasn't expected? The idea was ripe, Apple just did it first. The second person to make a wheel wasn't copying off the person who did it first. At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, all they did--which is still impressive, just not un-expected--is add a phone to the actually groundbreaking iPod Touch. The first time I saw an iPod Touch was when I was working at RadioShack selling mostly un-customizable flip phones, and my first thought was 'if they just added a cell antena to this, it would be the phone everyone is waiting for.' We all wanted a phone with a big screen, lots of customization, and simple interaction (touch). The second person to make that phone didn't copy off of the person who did it first.
- saurik 13y ago
  (The iPod touch came out after the iPhone.)
- marknutter 13y ago
  You have your facts wrong. The iPod touch came out after the iPhone, and previous to the iPhone there were no devices out there that had the same design. Everyone was making stylus or physical keyboard based smart phones before the iPhone came out. Virtually all the major players in the smart phone market universally panned the iPhone for taking the major risk of having one large screen be the main means of input. Boy were they wrong.
  - rickhanlonii 13y ago
    You're completely right, I have it backwards [red face]. It was an iPhone which I saw and thought that it would make a sweet iPod if they just removed the phone. Nevertheless, though I agree that there were no devices out there with the same design, the idea was ripe. Surely the concept of manipulating the screen directly rather than through a stylus or buttons is abstract enough to stop calling it 'copying'. In other words, it's such an obviously natural interface that someone was eventually going to do it first, so we can stop saying that anyone after the winner of that race is copying.
    - marknutter 13y ago
      Well, if you re-read my original post you'd find I'm essentially agreeing with you. You can always point to someone who's "copying" someone else because nobody innovates in a vacuum. So why bother pointing it out?

rickhanlonii 13y ago

No, they really didn't. Can't we all stop pretenting that the iPhone wasn't expected? The idea was ripe, Apple just did it first. The second person to make a wheel wasn't copying off the person who did it first. At the risk of putting too fine a point on it, all they did--which is still impressive, just not un-expected--is add a phone to the actually groundbreaking iPod Touch. The first time I saw an iPod Touch was when I was working at RadioShack selling mostly un-customizable flip phones, and my first thought was 'if they just added a cell antena to this, it would be the phone everyone is waiting for.' We all wanted a phone with a big screen, lots of customization, and simple interaction (touch). The second person to make that phone didn't copy off of the person who did it first.

saurik 13y ago
(The iPod touch came out after the iPhone.)
marknutter 13y ago
You have your facts wrong. The iPod touch came out after the iPhone, and previous to the iPhone there were no devices out there that had the same design. Everyone was making stylus or physical keyboard based smart phones before the iPhone came out. Virtually all the major players in the smart phone market universally panned the iPhone for taking the major risk of having one large screen be the main means of input. Boy were they wrong.
- rickhanlonii 13y ago
  You're completely right, I have it backwards [red face]. It was an iPhone which I saw and thought that it would make a sweet iPod if they just removed the phone. Nevertheless, though I agree that there were no devices out there with the same design, the idea was ripe. Surely the concept of manipulating the screen directly rather than through a stylus or buttons is abstract enough to stop calling it 'copying'. In other words, it's such an obviously natural interface that someone was eventually going to do it first, so we can stop saying that anyone after the winner of that race is copying.
  - marknutter 13y ago
    Well, if you re-read my original post you'd find I'm essentially agreeing with you. You can always point to someone who's "copying" someone else because nobody innovates in a vacuum. So why bother pointing it out?