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Mythicizing the iPhone is both dishonest and unhelpful. They didn't just figure it out and walk in, it took them years and many iterations to build a world class product.

Apple was able to use the wedge of UX to convince customers to but their devices and gave them time to fix the gaps in their hardware and software.

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Also note that Apple wasn't just "PC guys" at the time of iPhone introduction, they had fairly high-profile experience building portable devices through the iPods.

Google first bought a software team and then partnered with HTC to get hardware for the first Android phone on the market - again it wasn't a pure "PC guys" "just figuring it out."

But the Colligan quote is well on its way to becoming historic out of context, like Olsen's and Gates's.

How is quoting the Palm CEO dishonest? The fact that he was so wrong about Apple is kind of the point.

The point is that he wasn't "so wrong". Apple didn't succeed immediately and without stumbling a few times. At the same time the competition screwed up monumentally.

IMO, Apple will need another wedge and that car makers screw up in order to repeat their iPhone success. This is a possibility, but not a certainty, as some here proclaim.

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