This really cannot be overstated. I had "smartphones" prior to iPhone, and although certain components were present then that we use today, the mobile experience was an afterthought that didn't bring much more than email to the party. Even before the App Store iPhone was revolutionary in its intuitiveness, usability and usefulness.
Bingo! Before the iPhone there was no practicalway to access the Internet.
A web site developer had to write a special, customized, really minimal version of the site to support the very few models of smart phones that supported WAP.
It was a lot of extra work/cost for developers -- to deliver services of questionable value -- to a minuscule number of users.
With the iPhone, for the first time in history, we had the Internet in our hand/pocket. This changed the Internet -- and the lives of billions of people!
The App Store makes the iPhone ten times more useful. The same is true for LaserWriter which makes MacPlus more useful and save Apple from very early default.
This really cannot be overstated. I had "smartphones" prior to iPhone, and although certain components were present then that we use today, the mobile experience was an afterthought that didn't bring much more than email to the party. Even before the App Store iPhone was revolutionary in its intuitiveness, usability and usefulness.
Yes, the intuitiveness, usability and usefulness of iPhone enables the success of iPhone apps.
I consider iPhone the greatest invention of all time. Yes I'm including the wheel.
Although you are likely making a joke its hard to tell. While I agree that the iPhone could be the greatest gadget of all time, the greatest invention? I'm not so sure.
The wheel is pretty ubiquitous and useful world-wide for many people, even for those without phones or electricity. It's been around for a really long time. Without the wheel there is no iPhone. How would they make or ship the iPhone without the wheel?
Speaking of electricity I would say that while not necessarily an invention, the discovery and implementation of its properties has changed the world far more than the iPhone. There is absolutely no doubt that without electricity there is no iPhone. The electric motor alone has changed our lives immensely.
Off the top of my head, others I would put ahead of the iPhone as both greater and more life changing inventions world-wide would be refrigeration, the automatic cloths washing machine, the hypodermic needle, the loom, the sewing machine, I could go on and on. Think of the lives saved by refrigeration, and the time and labor freed with the cloths washing machine, loom, and sewing machine. The lives saved with the hypodermic needle needs little justification to place it above the iPhone as a greater invention.
Regarding saving lives, of course we can't forget Norman Borlaug. Borlaug is arguably the greatest human being to have ever lived. He invented saving lives through better crop yields. I'd put that ahead of the iPhone as well.
The iPhone is irrefuttably and undeniably the archetype for every smartphone that has been built since Apple released the iPhone to the world. This has been a great thing for Apple but it has also been a great challenge for Apple because of their desire to retain exclusivity around its design, form, and function. I completely understand why Apple wanted to lock it down and they absolutely deserved to be highly compensated for their innovation, efforts, and risks. Unfortunately, once the iPhone was released to the world the rational and business case for any of Apple's competitors to release anything other than an iPhone clone was impossible. To remain in the game they had to copy the iPhone because the iPhone defined a new era of smartphones. There is a very clear and distinct demarcation between pre-iPhone and post-iPhone smartphone designs.
The iPhone is the HMS Dreadnought of smartphone design. In exactly that same way that the HMS Dreadnought forever changed how battleships would be designed and functionally outfitted the iPhone forever changed how smartphones would be designed, outfitted, and function. Once the HMS Dreadnought was released it was totally impractical and senseless that any new battleship design would revert to pre-Dreadnought design concepts as they were no longer viable or competitive. As much as we despise some of the cloners - they only had the choice between copying the iPhone or exiting the market. Since the remaining ones all chose to copy they should have provided some sort of financial compensation to Apple for their decision to copy. But it does raise the question of whether there needs to be some sort of special dispensation in the marketplace to handle Dreadnought situations since they really are so few and far between. Is it ever in the best interests of consumers and society to force competitors to build suboptimal products? I don't think so, but the inventors and innovators should still be fairly compensated, perhaps under a FRAND model of some sort.
Since we're looking at this from a historical perspective you also need to consider that despite the HMS Dreadnought setting the stage for every battleship designed built subsequent to its release the entire class of battleships was rendered obsolete and strategically irrelevant by naval air power and the advent of the aircraft carrier. This situation and establishment of an undeniable archetype is therefore never a permanently rewarding one. It may last for years or decades but no matter how iconic and perfectly fit to its purpose it may appear, to the point of forcing others to copy, - it too will ultimately be replaced by something newer and different around a new archetype. A new Dreadnought will arise and Apple is only one of many companies that has an opportunity to define what the next platform will be. Whomever emerges as the winner will be faced with the same rewards and challenges Apple encountered with the iPhone.
Then all TV makers should be paying Philips for making the flat panel TV design for consumers. There are countless of designs that was immediately adopted by the corresponding industry. Apple isn't the only one who this has happened to.
Then all TV makers should be paying Philips for making the flat panel TV design for consumers. There are countless of designs that was immediately adopted by the corresponding industry. Apple isn't the only one who this has happened to.
I consider iPhone the greatest invention of all time. Yes I'm including the wheel.
A greater invention than the Internet? Without it the iPhone wouldn't exist.
The iPhone greatly extends the reach of internet. Before iPhone, the internet is accessed by a few billion computers within buildings. After iPhone, the world has more smartphones than the whole world population.
I consider iPhone the greatest invention of all time. Yes I'm including the wheel.
A greater invention than the Internet? Without it the iPhone wouldn't exist.
Depends what you call Internet.... The TCP/IP protocol, the infrastructure, the web (a TCP/IP protoc), etc. Kinda There were also other data networks than TCP/IP initially.. Most networks used by people and company until about1993 were point to point and not TCP/IP. Internal networks were not the "Internet" at all (they could use any stack they wanted).
The Internet is not a gadget, calling it ONE invention is kinda weird in a way. It's a whole series of connected inventions working as one. More an ecosystem than anything else.
The Iphone could used any data networks to communicate with an App Store on every phone maker (a bit like what happened pre 2007... If that was the case, you couldn't browse the web, but the phone's success didn't only depend on the browser, there were already phone browsers before the Iphone..
So, the Iphone could work without the Internet, but it would be less useful (though media consumption on device, would have sustained it regardless).
Comments
Bingo! Before the iPhone there was no practical way to access the Internet.
A web site developer had to write a special, customized, really minimal version of the site to support the very few models of smart phones that supported WAP.
It was a lot of extra work/cost for developers -- to deliver services of questionable value -- to a minuscule number of users.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_Application_Protocol
With the iPhone, for the first time in history, we had the Internet in our hand/pocket. This changed the Internet -- and the lives of billions of people!
Lest we forget:
Although you are likely making a joke its hard to tell. While I agree that the iPhone could be the greatest gadget of all time, the greatest invention? I'm not so sure.
The wheel is pretty ubiquitous and useful world-wide for many people, even for those without phones or electricity. It's been around for a really long time. Without the wheel there is no iPhone. How would they make or ship the iPhone without the wheel?
Speaking of electricity I would say that while not necessarily an invention, the discovery and implementation of its properties has changed the world far more than the iPhone. There is absolutely no doubt that without electricity there is no iPhone. The electric motor alone has changed our lives immensely.
Off the top of my head, others I would put ahead of the iPhone as both greater and more life changing inventions world-wide would be refrigeration, the automatic cloths washing machine, the hypodermic needle, the loom, the sewing machine, I could go on and on. Think of the lives saved by refrigeration, and the time and labor freed with the cloths washing machine, loom, and sewing machine. The lives saved with the hypodermic needle needs little justification to place it above the iPhone as a greater invention.
Regarding saving lives, of course we can't forget Norman Borlaug. Borlaug is arguably the greatest human being to have ever lived. He invented saving lives through better crop yields. I'd put that ahead of the iPhone as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug ;
Just my two cents.
Er ... Philo Farnsworth
Point taken!
Apple has 5 in the top 50. More than any other by my count. That is 10%.
Sony, Nintendo, Motorola, IBM... they are no slouch.
But Apple is tops unless my counting is wrong. I got sick of scrolling and counting. So I could be wrong.
Apple has made some great products or "gadgets" as they say, over the years.
I'm looking forward to whats in the pipeline.
Depends what you call Internet.... The TCP/IP protocol, the infrastructure, the web (a TCP/IP protoc), etc. Kinda There were also other data networks than TCP/IP initially.. Most networks used by people and company until about1993 were point to point and not TCP/IP. Internal networks were not the "Internet" at all (they could use any stack they wanted).
The Internet is not a gadget, calling it ONE invention is kinda weird in a way. It's a whole series of connected inventions working as one. More an ecosystem than anything else.
The Iphone could used any data networks to communicate with an App Store on every phone maker (a bit like what happened pre 2007...
If that was the case, you couldn't browse the web, but the phone's success didn't only depend on the browser, there were already phone browsers before the Iphone..
So, the Iphone could work without the Internet, but it would be less useful (though media consumption on device, would have sustained it regardless).