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The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

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Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#41

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

rythie wrote: post #40
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #14

The iPhone itself did not bring anything new except a slick interface coupled with multi-touch. We already had powerful smartphones, for example ones running Microsoft's Windows Mobile. But the iPhone brought smartphones to the public's attention, and the iPhone later brought the App Store.

The point is that they were not good enough for the task. For example I had several "smartphones" before my iPhone and really browsing the web was so much of a pain that, if you were near a computer, you'd turn it on wait 5 minutes for it to boot and still get your task done quicker than trying with your phone. In fact going home to check something on computer (or ringing someone up) was often preferable to using an…

Yeah. Web browsing on Windows Mobile was terrible. Only slightly better than WAP.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#42

Post by tadfisher »

programminggeek wrote: post #10

The biggest disruption being that the phone, mp3 player, email, etc. were just "apps" and none was any more important than the others. So, instead of making a phone that is great for just one segment (see the ill fated ESPN phone), the phone is now a platform with personalized features for each user via apps and it's always on, always connected, always up to date. Funny enough, the web is being disrupted by smartphon…

I'd place less emphasis on "apps". Remember, the original iPhone was released with a total of zero third-party apps; all third-party content and functionality was delivered via the Web.

The disruptive event was the sudden confluence of always-available data, a decent web browser, and an interface friendly enough to make use of it. "Apps" had been around for years on the "smartphones" of yesteryear, be it J2ME, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, etc. They were a clunky mess, however, and you had to pull out a stylus or fuddle around with a tiny joystick to use them. Their browsers just plain sucked.

Webkit on a device that could render full-screen Web pages like candy is what Apple contributed to the cellular arena, and that is what changed the game. Coincidentally, the browser is the main point of what reviewers of the era missed; most of them were lamenting the lack of apps.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#43

Post by Tichy »

programminggeek wrote: post #5
mindstab wrote: post #3

Yes. It's the iPhone disruption... That over half the market there that's android? Doesn't count cus they entered later (well they were working on it before but launched later) and therefore nothing they contributed counts. Yes clearly "All of this, because of the iPhone."

Well, Android certainly hopped on, but most of the basic innovations and vision came from the iPhone and Android took them and did their own thing with them. They copied. Apple, Microsoft, IBM, Dell, HP, etc. all have taken turns copying their peers at something. Good for them, it is the right decision. Otherwise, Android would have turned out a lot more like the Microsoft Kin.

I'd say Palm were really the first to provide a usable pocket computer. iPhone did not come out of nowhere.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#44

Post by spiralpolitik »

blubbix wrote: post #17
olalonde wrote: post #11

> What’s happened over the last five years shows not that Apple disrupted the phone handset industry, but rather that Apple destroyed the handset industry — by disrupting the computer industry . That's a bit of a stretch. There is still a large difference between an iPhone and a desktop/laptop computer from a user point of view. I'd be very surprised if smartphone sales had any noticeable influence on computer sales…

Microsoft is betting their future on a redesigned Windows with an unprecedented upgrade price of $39, and just pissed off their hardware vendors by launching their own PC devices. And you don't think the PC industry is being disrupted?

Microsoft having to lower prices is more a function of the total cost of a PC these days. When an average PC cost $2000, suddenly $200 for an OS upgrade wasn't huge. Now when your PC costs $100-$200 then a $200 OS upgrade suddenly hurts the pocket.

Also for Microsoft's strategy to succeed its essential for them to get as much of their market using Windows 8 and Metro as quickly as possible. Hence the sacrifice of the existing cash cow in the hope it will birth a new cash cow.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#45

Post by mixmastamyk »

flatline3 wrote: post #36
dannyr wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your advice works for the Apple fanboys too. IPhone is very successful as much, if not, more than Android. It's interesting though that it was Apple dissing Google in its WWDC keynote (how its latest OS is in most phones unlike Android's). Google, unlike last year, didn't diss Apple at all at Google I/O.

Can we just not do this? I already lived through the "MACS SUX PCS ROOL" 90s, and I don't really want to deal with the modern Android vs. iOS incarnation. Next, someone will be saying "right tool for the job", a Linux desktop guy will pop in to say "you're both wrong!", some benevolent Windows user will pipe in with "Macs are mostly good for design." I can't remember what gamers would say, but it was probably somethi…

"All of this has happened before, and it will all happen again."

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#46

Post by technoslut »

dannyr wrote: post #34
alanh wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at Android before and after the iPhone was announced: http://www.tekgadg.com/storage/Android_before_after_iphone_t... Gruber & his audience know (believe? Is there doubt?) that.

Are you claiming that Apple was not inspired by any previous device for the IPhone? There were a bunch of full-screen touch devices way before the IPhone. What about the Mac UI? If not for Xerox, it would have been completely different.

You miss the entire point about why the iPhone was revolutionary. Yes, there were other touchscreen devices (mostly capacitive and plastic). There were fundamental rethinking of the hardware internally which hadn't been done before. However, it was about the software. The software on the iPhone was leaps and bounds ahead of anything that existed. It made the experience fun, beautiful and intuitive which was not how smartphones were previously.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#47

Post by dannyr »

dannyr wrote: post #34
alanh wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at Android before and after the iPhone was announced: http://www.tekgadg.com/storage/Android_before_after_iphone_t... Gruber & his audience know (believe? Is there doubt?) that.

Are you claiming that Apple was not inspired by any previous device for the IPhone? There were a bunch of full-screen touch devices way before the IPhone. What about the Mac UI? If not for Xerox, it would have been completely different.

technoslut: I did not say that the IPhone is not revolutionary but it doesn't mean it didn't take inspiration from earlier products.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#48

Post by alttab »

tadfisher wrote: post #42
programminggeek wrote: post #10

The biggest disruption being that the phone, mp3 player, email, etc. were just "apps" and none was any more important than the others. So, instead of making a phone that is great for just one segment (see the ill fated ESPN phone), the phone is now a platform with personalized features for each user via apps and it's always on, always connected, always up to date. Funny enough, the web is being disrupted by smartphon…

I'd place less emphasis on "apps". Remember, the original iPhone was released with a total of zero third-party apps; all third-party content and functionality was delivered via the Web. The disruptive event was the sudden confluence of always-available data, a decent web browser, and an interface friendly enough to make use of it. "Apps" had been around for years on the "smartphones" of yesteryear, be it J2ME, Window…

I'd agree. Connectivity was the game changer. Functional Internet everywhere? Sign me the fuck up.

Native mobile apps in my mind simply bridge the user experience gap that HTML5 is having a hard time filling. It does some crunching too, but most apps that are worth their salt are either games or apps that do some processing before or after connecting to the Internet.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#49

Post by bryne »

olalonde wrote: post #39
flatline3 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft redesigned Windows around tablet interfaces and launched their own ARM hardware to run it. How much does it take before you'll call it a disruption?

I was specifically talking about the iPhone. Tablets definitely stand a better chance at "disrupting" the industry although this is also debatable. I will call it a disruption when people start using iPhones/iPad instead of laptops/desktops. This doesn't seem to be the case for a large majority of people.

It's not necessary for it to be a majority to be a market disruption.

Re: The iPhone and Disruption: Five Years In

#50

Post by alttab »

rythie wrote: post #30
olalonde wrote: post #11

> What’s happened over the last five years shows not that Apple disrupted the phone handset industry, but rather that Apple destroyed the handset industry — by disrupting the computer industry . That's a bit of a stretch. There is still a large difference between an iPhone and a desktop/laptop computer from a user point of view. I'd be very surprised if smartphone sales had any noticeable influence on computer sales…

Lots of business users only need smartphones or tablets day-to-day where previously they needed laptops, they don't want to carry a laptop all day and now make do on a smartphone so they do. Given a limited budget I'd expect they'd choose an upgrade phone/tablet over a laptop that they rarely use and is most likely locked down by IT anyway. At home, I've seen people who have a desktop and laptop - when they get a pho…

This. I won an iPad 3 at a conference and got a zagg bt keyboard case. With mail and issh it has reduced my need to bring my laptop home to zero.
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