Nokia's internal presentation after iPhone was launched (2007) [pdf]

Post by outworlder » Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 1:27 AM UTC

tgma wrote: post #383

scarface_74 wrote: post #345

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a popular misconception. The first iPhone had a 400Mhz processor and 128MB of RAM. It was so resource constrained that you couldn’t put a picture on your home screen because it would have taken too much memory. It could barely run Safari. If you scrolled too fast, you would see checker boxes while trying to render the screen. When Flash did finally come to mobile on Android, it required a 1Ghz processor and 1G…

nit: > It was so resource constrained that you couldn’t put a picture on your home screen because it would have taken too much memory. Clearly you drank the Apple koolaid that later artificially limited wallpapers to 3GS (or 3G?) and above when they introduced the feature in later iPhone OS updates. We had wallpapers and great homescreen and dock themes on jailbroken iPhones without a significant perf impact. P.S. Co…

Post by CamperBob2 » Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 2:12 AM UTC

bjourne wrote: post #99

willvarfar wrote: post #32

I remember the normal engineering mood inside Symbian, Motorola and Sony Ericsson when the iPhone launched. We immediately knew we were toast. We used to say that the iphone made us irrelevant and android made us redundant.

I worked at SE when the iPhone was released and that is not how I remember it. :) The mood was more like "lol, it has no buttons!", "too expensive!" and "it can't work without a stylus!" I think many seriously misjudged how "cool" Apple was back then (and consequently how much they'd be willing to spend on status symbols) and how good a snappy touch ui could be.

Post by scarface_74 » Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 2:20 AM UTC

seanc wrote: post #430

PlunderBunny wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Were virtual network operators (?) - VNOs - a thing back then, and could a VNO make its own rules? If so, could Apple (or Palm or RIM) launch their devices without carrier compromise by also owning a virtual network? I guess this would have required a lot of money. Maybe Nokia could have done it?

No, the carrier leverage did not come from network policy, it came from sales-channel. That is to say, in those days one way or another every device passed through a carrier's hands before reaching the customer. So carriers controlled pricing, and to a large degree, marketing. If they didn't like your device they would refuse to sell it and then you were stuck. Unlike RIM or Palm, Apple could realistically choose not…

Post by scarface_74 » Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 2:28 AM UTC

jandrese wrote: post #418

duskwuff wrote: post #410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The killer feature of the iPod was the iTunes music store. That wasn't launched until 2003, two years after the iPod, and it took a while for all the big music labels to sign on. (Hell, it took until 2010 for the Beatles to show up.) The iPod was a success even without the music store; while it wasn't the only portable digital music player on the market, or even the first, it was the first good one.

The first couple of generations of the iPod were a modest success, and then more as a fashion accessory than as a practical device. Lots of cultural cred, but the sales figures were pitiful compared to the subsequent generations.

Post by scarface_74 » Fri, Jan 17, 2025, 2:38 AM UTC

europeanNyan wrote: post #104

criticalfault wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think we can see the same thing happening today. BYD+CATL are the new iphone and other manufacturers are Symbian, Motorola and Sony Ericsson VW, Toyota and friends cannot change fast enough. They should have started with big battery investments 10-15y ago and RnDing then, not now when Market is flooded.

Are we seeing the same thing, though? The average consumer replaces their smartphone about every 3 years (at least in the western world, places like India are on an even shorter cycle). Additionally, the global average price of a smartphone is about 400 USD. That's a much faster moving market than cars and the investment is much lower. BYD is very impressive, but I wouldn't look at the situation as the same.