On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 9:56 AM, ldouglas <[email protected]> wrote: > So while I don't think Apple's products are successful because they're > technically proficient (I still hate the idea of losing precision by > using a finger) but you have to admit they're the best at changing the > way people do things.
Maybe the best right now, but by no means historically. Apple didn't invent the GUI...Xerox PARC did. They made a nice one, and then Microsoft made a popular one. Apple's initial attempt at ultraportable devices (the Newton) fell completely flat. It took Palm to reinvent our association with electronics that fit in our pockets. Apple's key innovation w/r/t smartphones was the UI. And then the App Store. Those two explain, IMO, about 99% of its success in that area. Did they have the first touchscreen UI? No, but they had the best one for fingers, which apparently people like better than styluses. Did they have the first App Store? Nope...Stingersoft beat them by about 10 years, but it wasn't easy to use. Apple made it all easier, which goes to show that "better" doesn't have to mean more powerful. In fact, it only rarely does.
