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It's the “hardware”, stupid

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Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#31

Post by spogbiper »

joshstrange wrote: post #25
_vaporwave_ wrote: post #17

> The iPhone wasn't successful because of its beautiful design. It was because it packed everything we needed every day—phone calls, music, internet, photos, maps—into a single device. Have to disagree here. There were many devices before (and after) the iPhone that offered this package but it stands above the rest because of its design and polish.

Case in point, Safari. I used Blackberry before the iPhone as well as multiple other "mobile browsers" on PocketPC, Palm, and even WAP browsers on flip phones (maybe also Opera Mini? My memory is fuzzy on when that came out). Nothing, and I mean nothing, compared to Safari on the iPhone. It was in a league of its own. It was dog-slow over Edge but it was a _real_ browser instead of what had come before.

agree. as a heavy user of smartphones pre-iPhone, the actually usable browser was the biggest advantage the iPhone had at introduction. I'd even put it above the capacitive/multi touch capabilities, as these did not enable new functionality but merely made it a nicer experience.

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#32

Post by embedding-shape »

goalieca wrote: post #24
embedding-shape wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall if the iPhone actually even had internet and maps at launch. I think the first time I saw an iPhone in person was in France maybe around 2007/2008 or something, and at that point it didn't even have the AppStore I'm fairly sure, just had the apps it came with. And most of the discussion I had with the owner wasn't about how it was "all-in-one package", but rather how much smoother the UI was compared t…

When Jobs first announced the iPhone, he really sold the idea that it was running a real web browser like on a desktop. Up to that point, there was a special mobile internet that really sucked.

I remember WAP, GPRS and the newly invented 2G all too well :) But seems my memory wasn't perfect regarding a browser being on the iPhone initially or not, thanks for the correction.

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#33

Post by joshstrange »

embedding-shape wrote: post #20
_vaporwave_ wrote: post #17

> The iPhone wasn't successful because of its beautiful design. It was because it packed everything we needed every day—phone calls, music, internet, photos, maps—into a single device. Have to disagree here. There were many devices before (and after) the iPhone that offered this package but it stands above the rest because of its design and polish.

I don't recall if the iPhone actually even had internet and maps at launch. I think the first time I saw an iPhone in person was in France maybe around 2007/2008 or something, and at that point it didn't even have the AppStore I'm fairly sure, just had the apps it came with. And most of the discussion I had with the owner wasn't about how it was "all-in-one package", but rather how much smoother the UI was compared t…

> I don't recall if the iPhone actually even had internet and maps at launch

It did. Jobs famously said on stage [0] "An iPod, a Phone, and an Internet Communicator. An iPod, a Phone... are you getting it? These are not 3 seperate devices, this is one device, and we are calling it iPhone" at the launch. It also did come with maps that used Google Maps.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK55ElsVzxM

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#34

Post by spogbiper »

goalieca wrote: post #24
embedding-shape wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall if the iPhone actually even had internet and maps at launch. I think the first time I saw an iPhone in person was in France maybe around 2007/2008 or something, and at that point it didn't even have the AppStore I'm fairly sure, just had the apps it came with. And most of the discussion I had with the owner wasn't about how it was "all-in-one package", but rather how much smoother the UI was compared t…

When Jobs first announced the iPhone, he really sold the idea that it was running a real web browser like on a desktop. Up to that point, there was a special mobile internet that really sucked.

there were also previous mobile devices with "regular" http/s browsers that also really sucked

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#35

Post by embedding-shape »

keyringlight wrote: post #26
embedding-shape wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't recall if the iPhone actually even had internet and maps at launch. I think the first time I saw an iPhone in person was in France maybe around 2007/2008 or something, and at that point it didn't even have the AppStore I'm fairly sure, just had the apps it came with. And most of the discussion I had with the owner wasn't about how it was "all-in-one package", but rather how much smoother the UI was compared t…

It had internet, back then one of the big bits of news tangential to the iphone releasing was how Jobs decided on no Flash player on their mobile devices, which was the mortal wound to official support of that format. More generally though, I think the iphone (or smartphones in general) work as a good example of bundling capabilities and doing it well. Phones before then could do many of the things smartphones could,…

> things smartphones could, some could play games, could play music, some had cameras, and there were separate devices that specialized in those and did them better

But even Sony Ericsson phones way before the iPhone could all do those things in one phone too, some of them really good for their time. Yet they never kind of changed the technology scene as much as the iPhone.

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#36

Post by HeyLaughingBoy »

bee_rider wrote: post #30
proee wrote: post #22

I would love to know if Ives was truly foundation to the iPhone, or if he was more given the overall idea and polished it with the final look/feel (which is also important). Who was the exact individual that had the vision for glass multi-touch screens and sick gesture like effects (scroll). Perhaps the team just sat around a table and came up with the vision. Or maybe it was Jobs, but clearly there were some good vi…

Did iOS actually invent the idea of scrolling with a gesture? I could have sworn it already existed at the time. Like panning over a map on a GPS… The momentum on iOS is nicely tuned though.

I know mouse gestures existed previously because I remember someone on /. talking about them circa 2000 and I had to look up what they were. But I don't remember what they were being used for.

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#37

Post by spogbiper »

rocketvole wrote: post #21
worthless-trash wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it was mostly the marketing.

I've seen this argument thrown around but I'm not sure I understand how it holds up. Why didn't android just completely copy apple's marketing, then? What did apple do differently,marketing wise, that android couldn't emulate?

There is some value to the idea as Apple was a single manufacture with a somewhat high end image vs Android being on every random company, some who were decidedly budget/low end. So we seem some real tacky advertising for Android devices vs more polished ads for iPhone. But there is more to the story than just this factor

Re: It's the “hardware”, stupid

#39

Post by bee_rider »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #8

> No matter how beautiful its design, it's meaningless without the software to back it up. Word. I worked as a software developer, for hardware companies, most of my career. Most of the upper management came from hardware, and consistently treated software as an afterthought. That may change, this time. Different breed of top managers.

It’s weird because in a hardware company the software becomes a cost.

In a software company the software is a magical money printer with zero unit costs.

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