Genuine question.

I know they were the scrappy startup doing different cool things. But, what are the most major innovative things that they introduced, improved or just implemented that either revolutionized, improved or spurred change?

I am aware of the possibility of both fanboys and haters just duking it out below. But there’s always that one guy who has a fkn well-formatted paragraph of gold. I await that guy.

  • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    In what aspect? There were mobile devices with installable applications. And Samsung already had a phone with that form factor.

    • DJDarren@thelemmy.club
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      11 months ago

      I had several Symbian/WinMob phones prior to getting my first iPhone, and I never, ever want to return to those days. Sure, they were fine for the time, but using iOS for the first time was a revelation.

    • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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      11 months ago

      And who bought them before iPhone came out? There were tablets before the iPad. Nobody bought them either.

      • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        A lot of people. If you went with idea they sold previously business oriented devices to regular users, I’d give you that. But it’s not like Apple invented that format or form. I advise everyone watch documentary on Springboard, which was really really ahead of its time. When everyone was messing around with dumb phones, Springboard was working on unified device with camera built-in, connectivity, etc. In fact they were too early with their product, ten years before first iPhone. More to the point, Jobs visited Springboard, said their product was shit, and went on to produce the exact same device with better polish, which was a dick move in my opinion, but that’s business. But saying Apple invented smartphones or refined them. No. It’s an iterative process like everything else.

        • toofpic@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          This is the phone I had as my own and sold to my customers. It came out a year before iPhone among many others. It was a mature product. It was quite shitty in terms of performance, but it had all connectivity and gps stuff, and many apps to work with it all.
          Windows’ shitty interface could be improved by cool touch-oriented interfaces (Spb Mobile Shell being one of them), there were 3rd party keyboard apps as well. https://m.gsmarena.com/htc_p3600-1694.php

        • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          Apple doesnt create products. Apple creates markets. Nobody bought modern phones before the iPhone. They existed, nobody bought them. Nobody bought tablets before the iPad. They existed, nobody bought them. Nobody bought mp3 players before the iPod. They existed, nobody bought them. Everyone bought them after, and not just from Apple.

          • MeanEYE@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            You seriously need to get out of that bubble. If product exists, that means there’s a market demand for it. By your own statement world is filled with infinitely rich companies which throw R&D resources on new products and constantly flopping and not turning profit, which is really not the case. People certainly bought MP3 players and tablets before Apple made their own version. iPod was popular but unattainable to most of the countries with poor economy and it’s not like people didn’t listen to music until Apple came along to save us all.

            • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              What bubble? The iPod was an enormous cultural phenomenom that brought mp3 players into the mainstream. Nobody’s ever heard of the saehan mpman, even though it predated the iPod for years, because it was bought by a few thousand early adopters and made no impact at all.

              This guy hates apple so much he’s trying to convince me they’re not financially successful lmao

              • sir_reginald@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                What your arguments probe is that Apple had a better marketing team and brand recognition (due to iMac) than the manufacturers who were there before.

                Yeah, Apple was financially successful, but not due to innovation. Just good marketing.

                • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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                  11 months ago

                  So you’re strawmanning me, basically. I said they created a market. I said that because it’s true. I never said a damn thing about how they created the market, in fact I went to great lengths to point out that all of these devices existed before apple created theirs. You’re so desperate to rant about fanboys that you inserted opinions into my post that weren’t there.

                  Here’s the deal, bro. Fanboys and haters are equally annoying. I can’t imagine how empty your life must be to have such strong opinions about a fucking phone.

                  • sir_reginald@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago

                    You’re so desperate to rant about fanboys that you inserted opinions into my post that weren’t there.

                    Firstly, I’m not desperate and I didn’t mention fanboys anywhere, so you made up that. My comment wasn’t even a rant.

                    And I didn’t insert any opinion. You said Apple created the market, that before the MP3 nobody wanted a mp3.

                    Here’s the deal, bro. Fanboys and haters are equally annoying. I can’t imagine how empty your life must be to have such strong opinions about a fucking phone.

                    What are you talking about? It was my first response to you. And I didn’t even show strong opinion, just said that Apple’s financial success was due to marketing and brand recognition, not innovation. That’s not an strong opinion, nor hating. It is not even talking bad about Apple.

                    Lastly, I kept myself on topic while you made personal attacks against me and my “empty” life. Who’s the one with the strong opinion here, huh?

          • masterspace
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            11 months ago

            Lmao. Apple anti-cpmpetively corners markets by preventing their products from working with anyone who actually innovates anything new.

            • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              What? That doesn’t even make any sense. You can’t use that sort of tactic until you’ve already sold a shitload of products.

        • thecrotch@sh.itjust.works
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          11 months ago

          Maybe so, but the fact remains that nobody bought mp3 players before the iPod, and everyone bought one after.

          • JaymesRS@literature.cafe
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            11 months ago

            I’m aware. That’s a fairly well known criticism of from the iPod announcement from Slashdot that proved to be misguided proving your point. Others may have existed, but the polish and innovation Apple put into them had a huge impact and made them go from a niche product to one for the masses. I agree with you.