"Would the innovation have happened if Apple hadn't driven it? Not any time soon."
I am fascinated by this statement. What evidence do you have to support it?
I am fascinated by this statement. What evidence do you have to support it?
This is and endless argument, you either acknowledge that they pushed it forward or you don't but there wasn't a significant application platform, touch was nearly nonexistent and even dismissed by RIM, and while many of these things might be dismissed as obvious, Apple made it stick and they beat the entire current crop of competitors to the market.
Everything is easy once you've seen it done...
Take the typical Nokia and Motorola device from 1997 and the typical one from the iPhone launch, biggest improvements? More SMS and the phones got a little bit smaller
The question is, if they knew no patents would get awarded for software features like slide-to-lock or gesture control, would they still have introduced the iPhone?
I believe they would have, but it would be great to hear your thoughts if you disagree.
http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/02/21/review-cingular-8125/ This was released over a year before the first iphone.
I think that apple's contribution was not so much innovation as it was popularisation.