On June 29, 2007, the first iPhone went on sale. Over the next 15 years, the iPhone grew… Through interviews with current and former Apple executives, WSJ’s Joanna Stern traces how Apple’s invention matured and changed all of us — perhaps the youngest generation most of all.
One segment of the interview reflects on Android smartphones gaining larger displays years before the iPhone did. When asked about how much of a factor Samsung and other Android smartphone makers had on Apple at the time, [Greg “Joz” Joswiak is Apple’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing] admitted they were “annoying” and accused them of poorly copying Apple’s technology.
“They were annoying,” said Joswiak. “And they were annoying because, as you know, they ripped off our technology. They took the innovations that we had created and created a poor copy of it, and just put a bigger screen around it. So, yeah, we were none too pleased.”
MacDailyNews Take: If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.
Android… is a stolen product. – Steve Jobs
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That era was tribalism at its finest.
If it weren’t for Android, iOS would not be as good as it is. Many ideas have been adopted from Android.
The nature of competition.
Yes, a duopoly is always better than a monopoly (sorry AAPL shareholders). And the iOS interface wasn’t overly original, rather the concept of a touchscreen phone (sans stylus).
Considering the existence of the Handspring Visor with the mobile phone Springboard module, the only innovation the iPhone brought to the table was changing the resistive display to a capacitive one.
Before iPhone, there was the Newton. Admit it, Apple created the modern smart phone.
I was not aware the Newton ever had phone capabilities.
It was able to send faxes though wasn’t it? It was a communications device. VoIP would have come to it eventually. Newton was new, although Alan Kay would dispute that, at least, concept-wise.
I’m not sure connecting a phone line to a fax modem that plugs into the Newton is even remotely similar to a cellphone connecting to a cell tower like the Springboard module allowed the Handspring devices to do. However if you are saying you were able to actually talk over that fax modem to any other cell/landline recipient and provide a link to a reference, I’ll accept that the Newton was first.
This is probably a whole lot closer to the modern smartphone than a Newton with the fax modem attachment. https://youtu.be/b9_Vh9h3Ohw
It didn’t , I had a newton given to me by Apple. It wasn’t as bad as people said but was flawed. Tried
to do things that the hardware was not up to.
Resistive is Futile
5 stars for the amusing reference. 🙂
…And yet how boring the iPhone design quickly became. Samsung offers wildly more sophisticated hardware than Apple at this point. Interesting how Apple decided to take their foot off the gas when it comes to iPhone hardware innovation
There is a major difference between “innovation” and “change for change’s sake.”
“sophisticated”? What one can read on the internet should never cease to amaze everyone.
Hussein, you’re just a Samsung hussy. Goddam Insein. Like your namesake in Iraq. And Baraq O’bummer.
Apple exec shouldn’t be too upset. Android is like Windows of the 00’s… Providing a large pool of potential future Mac customers, well-trained in using a computer with graphical user interface. They don’t all become Mac users, but Apple doesn’t want they all, only the ones willing and able to pay for higher quality.
Android creates new smartphone users, more than Apple can on its own. Many of them eventually become iPhone customers. But Apple today is not just about selling the phone (or computer). After a new customer buys an iPhone, they buy other Apple devices and use Apple’s services. Apple sells the ecosystem, not separate products. That ecosystem is ongoing, progressing and expanding over time, attracting more and more customers who choose to stay in the cohesive ecosystem.