A lot of people still do that.. but you're probably right, the iPhone did have a massive impact, understandable when I recall how ****** the internet experience was on the mainstream devices from Sony, Nokia, Blackberry or Motorola. Browse the net with a Razr or Blackberry Pearl? Ouch....
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Seven Years Ago Today, Steve Jobs Introduced the iPhone
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A lot of people still do that.. but you're probably right, the iPhone did have a massive impact, understandable when I recall how ****** the internet experience was on the mainstream devices from Sony, Nokia, Blackberry or Motorola. Browse the net with a Razr or Blackberry Pearl? Ouch....
If I had to compare, I'd say Jobs and Gates both have much more in common with Edison than they do with Tesla. Both of them got rich cleverly implementing ideas made elsewhere.
Wow, gotta hand it to you, that's a very astute observation!
This keynote, which I watched again, I'll admit, is still as riveting to watch if not more so, as it was back then in 2007. Probably one of the most pivotal days in Apple's history.
Btw, glaringly obvious how this particular clip posted on MR, abruptly ended before Eric Schmidt made his entrance.
Apologies regarding my language related comments, I can't find my glasses and didn't realise you weren't a native English speaker as so many native speakers have a rather poor grasp of English. I regret my foreign language skills are nowhere near as accomplished as yours.
Kind of... for some people a computer is like a washing machine. You turn it on, perform some commands and wait for having your task done. These users don't intend for knowing what underlying tasks are being made or don't want spending time on discovering how to get a task done better, faster or in a way that fits perfectly into their workflows. The original iPhone couldn't do anything near other smartphones could do at that time (e.g.: VoIP, GPS navigation, 3G radio, good rear cameras, etc).
Macs, on the other hand, CAN do both stuff -- low level tweaks just as consumer stuff like browsing Facebook or organizing family pictures on iPhoto...
I still remember watching this when I was at uni! Amazing and brings back some great memories. Really loved Steve's presentations and will always miss them! RIP 
The thing is, half of the windbags posting about Apple doing "nothing" since 2007 couldn't explain to you what they would consider a game changer.
I recently saw a presentation by Guy Kawasaki - a former Apple employee, among other things. He was talking about the 10% improvement vs. the 10x improvement. His presentation somehow reminds me of what many of the copycat companies do vs. what Apple does.
The example Mr. Kawasaki gave was related to ice. Back in the day, ice was harvested from frozen fresh water sources such as ponds and streams. People would go out to the pond and cut ice blocks. These ice blocks would then be shipped to wherever they would be consumed. Of course, the industry was quite limited - the ice could only be harvested when the water sources were frozen and the harvested ice could only be shipped so far.
Many companies harvested ice - some would find ways to improve the process by 5% or 10% or whatever. But in general, things were the same.... until someone figured out how to make ice in a factory. By creating an artificial environment and freezing water in a factory, the ice industry was revolutionized. Ice could be made any time of the year and pretty much anywhere in the planet. These big block of ice were made in factories and were shipped to local consumers. This change was a 10x improvement over the process that was in place before.
Some companies were able to find ways to improve the process by 5 or 10% or whatever. But in general, things were the same... until, someone figured out how to make ice in appliances that would fit in restaurant kitchen or even a home kitchen. This change was a 10x improvement over the process that was in place before.
If you look at what the iPhone did for the cell phones, it was not a 10% improvement over what was in place before. It was a 3x or a 5x or even a 10x improvement over what was there before. If you look at what iPad did for tablets, same thing. I mean, was there even a separate market segment for tablets before the iPad came out? The iPad was so good that it ushered in the post PC era. And now, the only growth in PCs is tablets.
Of course, there are lots of copy cats around. What with Samsung and LG and so on. They introduce all kinds of features that for some represent that 5% or 10% improvement over what you find in Apple's products. And those who don't have an appreciation of how hard it is to come up with a 10x improvement will tout the Samsungs and the LGs as some revolutionary products full of all kinds of innovation. And the iPad is nothing more than an oversized iPod.
To me, its just because some people don't know the difference between what is 10% better vs. what is 10x better.
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I remember being a major doubter. Of course, I was a doubter when the iPod came out too. After seeing how successful the iPod and iPhone became, and eventually buying them for myself (4th gen iPod, 2nd gen iPhone) and seeing how they changed my life, I was not going to doubt the iPad when it eventually came out as well. Nor will I doubt Apple's next big thing, whatever that ends up being.
I remember my criticisms well. I thought it was crazy to combine a music player and phone into one device. I thought it would mean people would drain their batteries too much and then not be able to make calls. I thought that touch screens were terrible and never would be as good as physical controls. I remember thinking that business people would not like the iPhone at all, that it was too much of a toy, completely unaware at how the consumer market would go for it and create an entirely new market. I also remember not being impressed with the lack of apps, but that at least, Apple rectified. For the rest, I turned out to just be wrong. Apple gave the thing a much better battery life than I expected, and they created a new market, much in the same way they created a new market for digital music purchasing a few years earlier. The touch screen was better than anything we'd ever seen before. When the iPad came out, I heard lots of criticism, that its lack of computer apps would not appeal to anyone, that its screen was too small. To be fair, I wouldn't have bought a first generation model either. But I knew that Apple knew it could create a new market with it, and this year I bought my first iPad.
Apple rolls, building on previous generations until we realize the world has changed. The first iPhone was revolutionary, only in the sense that it created a revolution, an ongoing process. It wasn't the revolution itself. The first iPhone kind of sucked, but it was different enough from what everyone else was doing, and it showed the potential of a new product category, that it kicked off the changes we now take for granted. It paved the way for what was to come. Arguably it wasn't until the fourth generation iPhone that we saw Apple starting to reach what it wanted to do from the beginning. There's still an ideal iPhone Apple is striving for, working towards, that we haven't seen yet, but each iteration brings us a little bit closer. For all the talk of innovation, sometimes we forget that it's never as sudden as we remember.
I remember my criticisms well. I thought it was crazy to combine a music player and phone into one device. I thought it would mean people would drain their batteries too much and then not be able to make calls. I thought that touch screens were terrible and never would be as good as physical controls. I remember thinking that business people would not like the iPhone at all, that it was too much of a toy, completely unaware at how the consumer market would go for it and create an entirely new market. I also remember not being impressed with the lack of apps, but that at least, Apple rectified. For the rest, I turned out to just be wrong. Apple gave the thing a much better battery life than I expected, and they created a new market, much in the same way they created a new market for digital music purchasing a few years earlier. The touch screen was better than anything we'd ever seen before. When the iPad came out, I heard lots of criticism, that its lack of computer apps would not appeal to anyone, that its screen was too small. To be fair, I wouldn't have bought a first generation model either. But I knew that Apple knew it could create a new market with it, and this year I bought my first iPad.
Apple rolls, building on previous generations until we realize the world has changed. The first iPhone was revolutionary, only in the sense that it created a revolution, an ongoing process. It wasn't the revolution itself. The first iPhone kind of sucked, but it was different enough from what everyone else was doing, and it showed the potential of a new product category, that it kicked off the changes we now take for granted. It paved the way for what was to come. Arguably it wasn't until the fourth generation iPhone that we saw Apple starting to reach what it wanted to do from the beginning. There's still an ideal iPhone Apple is striving for, working towards, that we haven't seen yet, but each iteration brings us a little bit closer. For all the talk of innovation, sometimes we forget that it's never as sudden as we remember.
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In 2005, about 35% of smartphones were touch, IIRC. It was even higher in 2006, but I don't have the figure handy.
In fact, by mid 2006, the writing was on the wall (no pun intended).
Those of us in the industry had been shown prototypes by various companies, but Apple beat them to the market.
This was due in no small part to the fact that Apple had no legacy smartphone screens and input devices to support. Now they do, and so they are taking years to slowly move towards bigger screens and new UI paradigms ... just as their competitors had to move slowly before.
Sometimes that's the most important thing.
I see a lot of questionable decisions made by other companies.
We as in we in this forum, which is a computer related forum. None of the people posting here are the kind you describe.
Not to mention, those users who aren't like us, they are the majority, and there's nothing wrong with that. People shouldn't waste time trying to optimise their computer related workflows by learning irrelevant stuff like how things work underneath. They should spend their time to do their work. The computer should be invisible, a very easy to use tool. That's how computers drive progress. Not by being complicated, but by being easy.
This is the era when every apple keynote were truly exciting. I had the first iPhone and I've had every single model since. These were truly exciting times. Jailbreaking and unlocking the first iPhone to make it work in the UK and running apps way before the app store.
That day I was thinking why someone would buy an iPhone. Nokina had N95 with much better camera. There were app stores available for symbian.
I was stupid
I was stupid
Evolution of product launching and phone
was an awesome day in the history of APPLE and THE WORLD
was an awesome day in the history of APPLE and THE WORLD
The original iPhone didn't floor people because of the amount of things it did. It floored people because of how well it did the top 3 things people wanted it do.
I'd say in today's world, that's the most important thing most of the time.
Exactly. If Steve were alive and had unveiled it instead of Phil, no one would doubt Apple's future. Same thing goes for the rMBP.
Agreed. If there's one area the competitors haven't nailed yet, it's battery tech. I'd like to think Apple will be a step ahead and acquire at least one cutting edge startup to implement an insanely great solution to this decade old issue.
Apple Retail Stores
Apple store comes to mind. I have always been impressed by the stores. They are so different from other electronics stores in my area.
Making a retail store a house of worship is such a Steve thing.
Apple store comes to mind. I have always been impressed by the stores. They are so different from other electronics stores in my area.
Making a retail store a house of worship is such a Steve thing.