It's worth noting that in 2008 it wasn't clear why we needed an Apple smartphone. Web-browsing smartphones were a niche market, and wireless bandwidth limitations made browsing painfully slow (and media streaming virtually impossible). For messaging, the Blackberry had an overwhelming market share. And the iPhone was crazy expensive. How could it possibly succeed?
The iPhone had an excellent web browser, a novel form factor, and fun first-party apps. And, notably, no one else had a web browser that was even decent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/technology/circuits/27pogu...
For all we know, there may also be insane demand for good VR once people see what good VR looks like.
If I had a nice room with padded walls. . .
I am personally very excited for an apple VR headset. But it is a tougher sell because it demands a whole new few thousand quid to be found that I was currently not spending. It doesn’t replace anything.
People keep saying this but it just isn't true. Well it was crazy expensive, but when the iPhone was released it was actually slightly cheaper than what passed for a smart phone back then.