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This comment is a bit dismissive. Can you really claim that for iPod, iPhone and iPad? MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and

This comment is a bit dismissive. Can you really claim that for iPod, iPhone and iPad? MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and it didn't really add much. And the iPad was merely an iteration on the iPhone. But every rule has an exception. I'll grant that Apple definitely redefined what a smartphone was with the iPhone.

SeanLuke 13y ago
> MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and it didn't really add much. That's like saying that cell phones with color screens were already pretty mainstream when the iPhone came around and it didn't really add much. I think you have forgotten just how different the iPod was. Let's add the Mac to this party. Do you think that the Mac was just reinventing earlier standards on the market?
- hahainternet 13y ago
  > That's like saying that cell phones with color screens were already pretty mainstream when the iPhone came around and it didn't really add much. > I think you have forgotten just how different the iPod was. It wasn't very different. Jesus Apple fans talk a lot of shit. The first iPhone couldn't even install apps, stop this ridiculous rose tinted view.
  - SeanLuke 13y ago
    I don't know who this Jesus Apple guy is, but I don't own an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.
ceejayoz 13y ago
> MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and it didn't really add much. In the world of techies, perhaps, but it hadn't made much of a dent per-iPad in the mainstream consumer market. http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1695501/ipod-mp3-player-adoption-at-tipping-point http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1695501/ipod-mp3-player-ad...
eatmyshorts 13y ago
I, for one, found the click-wheel to be an innovation strong enough to switch from other MP3 players. I have, and had at the time of the iPhone release, a large music collection, thanks to my interest in jam bands that allow for legal downloads of recordings from their concerts. I tried many mp3 players, both before and after the release of the iPod. None matched the ease or speed of navigation provided by the iPod. There's a reason that, after the release of the iPod, no other MP3 player had more than a tiny sliver of market share. The click wheel was an innovation. Yes, they patented it, so nobody could mimic it. But to claim that it was not an innovation is ignoring its functionality and novelty at the time it was released.
mikeash 13y ago
The iPod didn't add much, when you're a techie looking at technical specs. What the iPod added was fewer features (yes, that's a good thing when you do it right) and usability. It did what people wanted, and in a way that regular people could actually use. For reasons I can't comprehend, a large number of technical people continue to be unable to see the value in that, but it does provide immense value, and that's why the iPod was so popular for so long.

SeanLuke 13y ago

> MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and it didn't really add much. That's like saying that cell phones with color screens were already pretty mainstream when the iPhone came around and it didn't really add much. I think you have forgotten just how different the iPod was. Let's add the Mac to this party. Do you think that the Mac was just reinventing earlier standards on the market?

hahainternet 13y ago
> That's like saying that cell phones with color screens were already pretty mainstream when the iPhone came around and it didn't really add much. > I think you have forgotten just how different the iPod was. It wasn't very different. Jesus Apple fans talk a lot of shit. The first iPhone couldn't even install apps, stop this ridiculous rose tinted view.
- SeanLuke 13y ago
  I don't know who this Jesus Apple guy is, but I don't own an iPod, iPhone, or iPad.

ceejayoz 13y ago

> MP3 players were already pretty mainstream when the iPod came around and it didn't really add much. In the world of techies, perhaps, but it hadn't made much of a dent per-iPad in the mainstream consumer market. http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1695501/ipod-mp3-player-adoption-at-tipping-point http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/1695501/ipod-mp3-player-ad...

eatmyshorts 13y ago

I, for one, found the click-wheel to be an innovation strong enough to switch from other MP3 players. I have, and had at the time of the iPhone release, a large music collection, thanks to my interest in jam bands that allow for legal downloads of recordings from their concerts. I tried many mp3 players, both before and after the release of the iPod. None matched the ease or speed of navigation provided by the iPod. There's a reason that, after the release of the iPod, no other MP3 player had more than a tiny sliver of market share. The click wheel was an innovation. Yes, they patented it, so nobody could mimic it. But to claim that it was not an innovation is ignoring its functionality and novelty at the time it was released.

mikeash 13y ago

The iPod didn't add much, when you're a techie looking at technical specs. What the iPod added was fewer features (yes, that's a good thing when you do it right) and usability. It did what people wanted, and in a way that regular people could actually use. For reasons I can't comprehend, a large number of technical people continue to be unable to see the value in that, but it does provide immense value, and that's why the iPod was so popular for so long.