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Comment by sbierwagen | Hacker News Reader

If we're continuing the iPhone metaphor from the GP, note that Apple is almost always late to a market segment. When the iPhone was released, Windows CE had owned the smartphone segment for years. The iPod was hardly the first hard drive mp3 player. Apple Watch wasn't the first smart watch. Etc etc etc. Apple makes good products, not innovative ones. It is not at all unthinkable that someone else will release a better self driving car after Tesla, and win marketshare.

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Continuing that path I'd say: Tesla gets software right. Way better than what I've seen in other cars.

But what stops that iPhone metaphor for me is Design, Materials and Finish. Apple Products look and feel like luxury. Where as Tesla only achieves that on the software side - and in your pocket.

I wouldn't be surprised if most people disagreed with your notion that Tesla cars do not look luxurious.

They only look luxurious from the exterior, the interior is really pitiful for the price when compared to a samely priced car from, say, BMW.

At the risk of sounding like a nationalistic asshole, Teslas look very American - i.e., a mix of cheap and tacky. Put a 5 series bmw next to it - two different leagues really. I want to root for Tesla, and I'd buy one if I could park it somewhere where I could charge it, but I don't think they're doing great in the looks department, especially not to Europeans.

Clearly you never used a windows Mobile device if you can even think to compare the experience with those awful devices with a far, far superior experience. The iPhone is the first smartphone as we know them today, denying it is simply lying.

Source: I owned Windows CE / windows mobile devices since as early as 2001 if I recall correctly.

The second generation iPhone was the first as you know them today. The first was a glorified iPod Touch with a cellular radio stack. In fact, aside from the better touch-friendly screen, the iPhone was a step backwards from Windows CE/Smartphone/Mobile devices because on those I could run applications.

Source: I owned Windows CE/Smartphone/Mobile devices starting with the Samsung i600 and was actively using a Treo 700w when the iPhone was released.

The iPhone was the first smartphone without a physical keyboard, allowing for a much more functional screen in a convenient form factor, right? I recall it seeming like a non-trivial difference at the time, and clearly a game-changing one.

No. There was a Palm Treo smartphone without a keyboard first. It even had a 3rd party app ecosystem.

All the pictures I can find of Palm Treos have keyboards. Which model was it that didn't?

Some models of the Tungsten didn't have keyboard. Most palms didn't, the advantage of the treo was that it did so you didn't have to learn the palm handwriting system. The screens weren't sensitive enough for on screen keyboards.

Ya, I should have phrased my original comment differently. The iPhone was the first phone that effectively made the on-screen keyboard unnecessary. Past devices did without one, but not without a significant loss of functionality.

I had a Sony Ericsson P800 in 2003: http://cdn2.gsmarena.com/vv/pics/sonyericsson/snp800_00.jpg

I had one too. It had a pen, it was not really usable without it.

Palm treo/tungsten had a keyboard but also a good screen and were far more functional than the first iphones. Not as flashy and the software was much more expensive though.

It's quite possible that just like Apple beat others by making good phones/laptops, it will beat others by making a better self driving car!

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