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The iPhone wasn't the first capacitative touch smartphone. LG announced and got to market before them. I don't remember if anyone else was earlier or not. ht

• jolohaga 12y ago
  Why then didn't Samsung copy the LG phone?
• MBCook 12y ago
  It wasn't the first, but no one remembers them because they didn't make a difference in the market. Quality of implementation is everything. Philo Farnsworth didn't invent the first TV, mechanical TV systems existed before. But his was much more practical, a better implementation. Same with Edison's lightbulb. I wouldn't say the iPhone was special for being the first touchscreen phone (which as you pointed out, it's not). I'd say it was the first modern smartphone.
  • anigbrowl 12y ago
    They sold 1m of the phones, but they concentrated on the Asian rather than the US market. Apple had a more powerful brand to leverage than LG did, not to mention experience as a platform provider.
    • MBCook 12y ago
      I don't think any amount of marketing would have made that phone sell or set off a revolution the way the iPhone did. I don't think Apple selling that phone would have set off a revolution the way the iPhone did. I'm not saying it's a bad phone, but some anti-Applers like to minimize the iPhone as "just the first touchphone"; there was more to it than that.
  • w1ntermute 12y ago
    > Quality of implementation is everything And you can't patent "quality of implementation."