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Comment by viraptor | Hacker News Reader

> there was a smartphone before the iPhone; there were many tablets before the iPad; there was an MP3 player before iPod

That's the biggest shift I've heard from Apple. They were either "first" or ignored the existence of competing features/products for ages. I'm really surprised by this quote.

Compare "smartphones before iPhone" to the original announcement:

> iPhone also ushers in an era of software power and sophistication never before seen in a mobile device, which completely redefines what users can do on their mobile phones. (...) iPhone is a revolutionary and magical product that is literally five years ahead of any other mobile phone,

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That's actually very consistent for Apple. Apple doesn't generally claim to be the first to do something, but have always taken the line that they're the first to execute it well. Hence their fondness for words like 'reimagine', 'revolutionise', etc.

Yes, dominant smartphones before iPhone were BlackBerry inspired, full physical keyboard with small screen.

When the iPhone launched, the Android project changed direction toward a full screen phone and that form became much more dominant and popular than the BlackBerry form.

Apple made the bet that they could make the full screen experience much more compelling that people would accept the trade off of losing the keyboard.

There were several slate phones before the iPhone

They had slider keyboards yeah?

True. But in this case Apple isn't only a bit late but completely lost with AI - Efforts driven towards AR for years absolutely killed their game.

> Apple doesn't generally claim to be the first to do something

Strongly disagree with this. Their marketing often claims inventing things that have existed.

> Strongly disagree with this. Their marketing often claims inventing things that have existed

Strongly disagree with this. Their marketing often claims reinventing things that have existed, or revolutionising them, or reimagining them, but rarely claims to be the first, ever, without qualification.

I've heard the phrase "through Apple new technologies achieve their final form", possibly not official Apple but one of the Apple choir bloggers (Gruber?).

There were smartphones before iPhone, now all smartphones are black featureless rectangles. There were printers before LaserWriter, then for 20 years all printers became this. (And later disappeared.) There were wireless heaphones before Airpods, now the difference is in the shape of the stubs. There were laptops before the Macbook Air... etc

Can you source the apple PR claiming they invented the mp3 player or the smartphone?

I recall marketing comparing iPhones to blackberries. They even had iTunes running on Motorola phone

https://www.makeuseof.com/itunes-phone-before-the-iphone-exp...

Nobody claimed Apple was the first at this. They were just the best, eventually. But it’s been 20 years

They didn't, that's why I explicitly wrote "or ignored the existence of competing features/products for ages".

But they sure write releases like that's implied.

> iPhone introduces an entirely new user interface based on a large multi-touch display and pioneering new software, letting users control iPhone with just their fingers.

Large display existed before, "just fingers" control was... always the case, the interface was quite polished, but it existed elsewhere, etc. But if you didn't know that, reading the announcement sure sounds like it's never been done before. It's the multi touch that makes the combination novel.

It's pretty on brand for Apple, I'm surprised they hadn't pushed this narrative harder earlier.

There were smartphones before the iPhone. Consider the IPAQ and Windows Mobile 6.0.

And of course plenty of MP3 players before iPod.

And what exactly in your iPhone announcement quote was untrue?

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