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But let's be honest for a second here: The technological foundation was already there, so it's an exaggeration to say that "the original iPhone started that". It didn't. It was beautiful, but it nevertheless stood on the shoulders of giants that had already been there long before it.

I agree with everything you say, except I feel that you underemphasize the iPhone's significance. Yes, the technology existed. Apple has rarely, if ever, created the technology...they create the experience which is arguably just as important.

Even if the car engine existed, it took the effort to create an experience around it that people wanted. It is a shallow view, in some respects, but the iPhone created (please excuse this terrible grammar) how the technology would be used.
 
Not really. The Sony Xperia X1 was the first high DPI smartphone to break the 300 PPI barrier, and it came out about two years before the iPhone 4.

But Apple was to first to put it in a phone of its size and touch capabilities. Anything you do differently than before is innovation by definition, even buying a tech and using it in a different way or novel idea is technically innovation.
 
But Apple was to first to put it in a phone of its size and touch capabilities. Anything you do differently than before is innovation by definition, even buying a tech and using it in a different way or novel idea is technically innovation.

Depends on who you're talking to around here. Me? I'll agree with you. Innovation is as much improving upon an old idea as it is creating something brand new and unprecedented. So yeah, retina screens were innovative because they're an improvement upon the high PPI displays that came before.

Other people think it's only the latter. Usually they show up when we're all getting into the inevitable Android vs. iOS arguments. Thing is, if only brand new, never before seen things are innovative, then nothing is, because everything that's being done now has been done before in some shape, form, or fashion. The iPhone would be an old hat in a long line of old hats. Android, just another old hat beyond that.

Actually, if I were to sum it up in one quick soundbite, I'd say that most people don't understand the difference between innovation and invention.
 
you know that saying from the Big Lebowski... it applied well to Jobs about the whole flash thing.

"You're not wrong, you're just an *******"

the way he went about it was just.. well.. Rude... but he wasn't wrong about the shortcomings of flash and that we are better off without it in the mobile. The demise of flash in the mobile helped pave the way for HTML5's uptake, and that is better for the everyone!.

But it's not really a technological advancement to purposely restrict the software that users can run!

The way SJ went about the whole thing was rude? Apple didn't say a word about Flash in the press for a long time. The iPhone didn't support Flash player either and for three years, and it was for the same reasons that Apple refused to support it for the iPad. Apple never went to the press to talk about their refusal to support Flash and Adobe didn't care at all. Adobe criticized the exclusion of Flash only when the iPad came out in 2010.

Adobe brought the whole thing out to the public in the first place, and that too, only when they felt that they couldn't just ignore Apple any longer. The iPad showed Adobe that Apple wasn't just some bit player, and that's when the fight got dirty. Adobe spent a long time since then trumpeting their efforts to develop Flash Player for Android. Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen himself gave an interview saying that the advent of tablets with Flash would bury the iPad because it wouldn't be able to compete against those millions of devices that gave users the full web. The way I see it, SJ played it the right way. He didn't talk that much about Flash with the press. He played the battle behind closed doors. In the end, Apple had the last laugh after Adobe cancelled development efforts on Flash for mobile devices.
 
Depends on who you're talking to around here. Me? I'll agree with you. Innovation is as much improving upon an old idea as it is creating something brand new and unprecedented. So yeah, retina screens were innovative because they're an improvement upon the high PPI displays that came before.

Other people think it's only the latter. Usually they show up when we're all getting into the inevitable Android vs. iOS arguments. Thing is, if only brand new, never before seen things are innovative, then nothing is, because everything that's being done now has been done before in some shape, form, or fashion. The iPhone would be an old hat in a long line of old hats. Android, just another old hat beyond that.

Actually, if I were to sum it up in one quick soundbite, I'd say that most people don't understand the difference between innovation and invention.

Exactly my friend. Sounds like you had some tech experience.
 
wait..
so if apple never released the iphone, then android phones would have been good old blackberry like phone, with a physical keyboard, a "call" button, and not one of those crappy touchscreen phone we've got everywhere?
well *****

Just imagine is the original Apple PC was not made :p
 
You think Google designed the hardware for the first Android phones?

No, they didn't.

Android was a platform that Google to supply to manufacturers ( Google bought Android and developed it further). Much like the model of Symbian, which produced the OS and licensed to manufacturers, such as Siemens, Nokia, SonyEricsson and Motorola.

Google produced prototypes / mock ups for phones that displayed Android could compete against the latest and greatest smart phones of the day.
 
Believing Google? I think we've learned the "Don't be evil" motto was just a ploy for Google. Worked, didn't it?
 
Why the form factor? There are not too many options left. A 5" phone should all apple needs

Not sure that is all they will need, but that remains to be seen. But I am expecting something new and Apple like with the iPhone 6 ...

----------

Some people's definition of "innovation" is throwing a ton of useless, half-baked features against a wall to see what sticks. I like Apple's approach slow and steady refinement with one or two new things rather than something completely new every year.

A new form factor is fine, but only if it makes sense and in some way enhances the end user experience.

Agreed
 
Take Apple's Macs for example, they didn't create the mouse or cursor, as far as I know, they visited some Xerox campus/building and copied them. Sure, Google has borrowed afrom nd copied Apple, but Apple has also (from others). The core of OSX is Unix, which Apple did NOT create. They borrowed it. Like others have said, companies innovate, copy and borrow allot of the time from products by other people/companies.

One minor detail. Apple didn't steal the tech from Xerox. They partnered and paid for it. It's Xerox managements fault for not realizing what they had.

Microsoft, Samsung, and Google blatantly stole from Apple.
 
Android UI has pull down notification, app drawer, widget screens from the beginning.

Did ios? No. I just don't see how that is copying apple.

Capacitive Touch screen? LG came out with a full slate capacitive touch screen phone before apple. It is not like a touch screen phone without keyboard didn't exist before iphone.

Multi touch? All it brought was some additional gesture like pinch to zoom. But in the grand scheme of things single touch still forms most of the UI interactions.

What apple did was popularized a full slate stylus free touch screen phone with its quick and responsive screen. This credit must be given to apple. But this is nothing more than e.g. Motorola popularized the clamshell phone. Or Palm with its stylus touch screen.

Apple didn't really invent anything new. It just made the packaging more desirable.

the book explain that the Android team were at the beginning a small team and no one knew about their work. they have a goal to create great mobile OS than any OS available at the time so they won't lose the search market, especially Microsoft who at the time almost control the mobile OS share.

and then they adapt to make the OS available to every device, phones with keyboard, virtual keyboard and every other type of phone that you can think of with different screen sizes.

and then Apple announced the iPhone, the Android team somehow got "enlightened" showing them what is the right way to do it. and then their team just go wild with it. google engineers full of smart people, no doubt about that.

but Apple showed them the right way, hence Android copied the iPhone.
 
Yep Android started as a copy of the iPhone and nobody can deny that.

The roles have seemingly reversed however. Android's clearly leading the way in features, design, and actual practicality it's not even funny, whereas iPhone is frankly a bit stale. Even iOS 7 was very little more than a facelift. Running out of ideas, are we Apple?
 
Yep Android started as a copy of the iPhone and nobody can deny that.

The roles have seemingly reversed however. Android's clearly leading the way in features, design, and actual practicality it's not even funny, whereas iPhone is frankly a bit stale. Even iOS 7 was very little more than a facelift. Running out of ideas, are we Apple?


I fully agree, apple mobile devices and OS is evolving is too slow and is lacking on features. iOS 7 was one years or more too late. I hope apple's hubris is not there downfall. On the flip side I hate useless features and android is full of those (with some mouth watering features though).
 
I fully agree, apple mobile devices and OS is evolving is too slow and is lacking on features. iOS 7 was one years or more too late. I hope apple's hubris is not there downfall. On the flip side I hate useless features and android is full of those (with some mouth watering features though).

Google Now is a magical thing. I got an Email from Amazon saying that my order shipped and Google Now automatically (without me ever opening a UPS link or even copying the tracking number) added a card with live tracking info. When it was delivered, it said "Done with this?" and I just swiped it away. It also automatically gives cards based on your browsing history of updates from sites. I get cards from MacRumors News posts and other sites. It's amazing to have such a nice way to summarize what's going on around you and your habits, and Apple has nothing of that sort.
 
Obviously, a flame bait story - I shall be enjoying the entertainment with my pop corn at the ready.

Seriously, who gives a crap. Every company gains inspiration / copy each other. Including Apple - look at the similarity between old Braun products and Apple products.

http://blog.pekpongpaet.com/2010/02/04/on-innovation-part-2-how-apple-does-it/

It's not just about inspiration.
Apple changed everything in 2007.
I'm not speaking about Samsung: they just copied the iPhone.
I'm speaking about the philosophy behind, I'm speaking about Google and Microsoft ( blackberry rest in peace ...) : they had to change direction.
 
the book explain that the Android team were at the beginning a small team and no one knew about their work. they have a goal to create great mobile OS than any OS available at the time so they won't lose the search market, especially Microsoft who at the time almost control the mobile OS share.

and then they adapt to make the OS available to every device, phones with keyboard, virtual keyboard and every other type of phone that you can think of with different screen sizes.

and then Apple announced the iPhone, the Android team somehow got "enlightened" showing them what is the right way to do it. and then their team just go wild with it. google engineers full of smart people, no doubt about that.

but Apple showed them the right way, hence Android copied the iPhone.

If you said it that way then Apple copied LG and popularized the stylus free capacitive touch screen. Google then did the same and made it (android) even more popular.

So conclusion is apple and google made use of knowledge and know how that came before to make something new.

The cycle repeats again. Now apple takes the best from android like notification and UI design and make something out of it. So who knows in the future android may use something from Apple.

One thing we do know is apple is the cry baby and hypocrite here with it's lawsuits and making a big deal out of something like rectangular design.
 
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come on. why do people constantly say this crap

Apple stood on the shoulders of those before them as equally as people have stood on the shoulders of Apple.
Dont get me wrong. Apple had the right product, at the right time, with the right design and the right marketting know how to change the game. nobody is denying that.

But the world was already moving towards smartphones with touch screens. There were many on the market before the iphone, albeit maybe not as fancy or pretty.

The iPhone (Nor any other phones and technology) were not created ina vacume. They are the end product of years of industry advancements from the microcomponents to the overall design.

Apple might have been a catalyst to hurry on the storm of smartphones, but you can't say that smartphones wouldn't have gone this way on their own either

Give me an example of smartphone that was already moving in that direction in 2007.
Are you speaking of ridiculous product like Nokia 5800 and its terrible resistive touchscreen and almost unusable operator system ?
 
Give me an example of smartphone that was already moving in that direction in 2007.
Are you speaking of ridiculous product like Nokia 5800 and its terrible resistive touchscreen and almost unusable operator system ?

Please don't mention Nokia 5800. I still own this model, it is a stock configuration and not added with lots of apps, it is just as slow and lag as hell. Each time I use it, I feel like smashing it into pieces. You perfectly worded it as terrible and unusable.
 
So Steve Jobs is happy that Android/Google is winning? Can't live in the past.

Is winning what ? Is there a single android phone selling more than iPhone 5s ?
All you fandroids continue to play this song about the "victory" based upon market share when the base of that share is composed by crappy ridiculous <200 $ android phones.

There is no victory, apple isn't looking for market share, they are not even covering all the markets. They are looking at revenues and they are doing quite well.
 
Is winning what ? Is there a single android phone selling more than iPhone 5s ?
All you fandroids continue to play this song about the "victory" based upon market share when the base of that share is composed by crappy ridiculous <200 $ android phones.

There is no victory, apple isn't looking for market share, they are not even covering all the markets. They are looking at revenues and they are doing quite well.
I think the victory is more about actual features, design, practicality, etc. Android pretty firmly surpassed Apple on all those fronts recently, especially after Ice Cream Sandwich.

Market share means nothing and most Android users, despite a vocal minority, couldn't care less how many other people use Android.
 
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