Re: [NTLK] [OT] New iPhones/iPhone OS 3.0

From: James Fraser <wheresthatistanbul-newtontalk_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Jun 16 2009 - 05:28:45 EDT

Hello,

--- On Tue, 6/16/09, Steven Scotten <splicer@paroxysm.com> wrote:

> This was a windy way of saying that I think it's unfair to
> call Apple "merely" a technology marketing company because they aren't
> ever first to market, and to accuse them of simply appropriating
> others' inventions. If they were the first to make it work right,
> they invented it no matter how many others came before.

Well, it's comparatively easy to manufacture a product that works right according to your own engineers, less easy to make something that works right according to the expectations of the all-thumbs, comparatively non-technically-inclined general public. :)

PortalPlayer (who developed the iPod for Apple) apparently had been working on an IBM-branded MP3 player, (with Bluetooth headphones!) but dropped it to work with Apple.

The PortalPlayer design was about the size of a cigarette pack and had buttons on the front, looking like an FM pocket radio. Apple refined the user interface under the direct supervision of Steve Jobs.

The biggest changes Apple made to the software were bug fixes and adding a new user interface based on a central scroll wheel. The PortalPlayer reference design also did not support playlists longer than ten songs (!) and had no equalizer.

So, yeah, PortalPlayer might well have developed and marketed an MP3 player on their own, but without the changes and refinements that Apple introduced, it's doubtful if it would have been the runaway success that the iPod was. Apple just seems to have that certain je ne sais quoi when it comes to gaining mass acceptance for their products.

Best,

James Fraser

====================================================================
The NewtonTalk Mailing List - http://www.newtontalk.net/
The Official Newton FAQ - http://www.splorp.com/newton/faq/
The Newton Glossary - http://www.splorp.com/newton/glossary/
WikiWikiNewt - http://tools.unna.org/wikiwikinewt/
====================================================================
Received on Tue Jun 16 05:28:53 2009

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.8 : Tue Jun 16 2009 - 06:30:00 EDT