Re: Why did anyone say Apple 'invented' the smartphone?
"For those who care, here are some highlights of the 'smart' phone lineage. It DOES begin with an Apple device, the Newton, whose design began in 1987."
WRONG. The lineage of smart portable devices DOES NOT begin with Apple. It begins with Psion.
Touchscreens do not define the lineage of smartphone design. Ability does.
Psion released it's first Psion organizer in 1984. Apple didn't even begin to research the Newton until 1987, and it wasn't released until 1993. The Psion Series 3 was released in 1991, the Series 3a was out at the same time as the Newton. The Series 3a utterly trashed the Newton. I owned a Series 3 and 3a which were groundbreaking at the time. There were very few Netwons to be found anywhere, and if you eventually found one, they absolutely sucked. No wonder Jobs pulled them.
Psion predated both Apple AND Palm chronologically and were far superior in ability. Touchscreen was not on their agenda. Psion's OS EPOC became Symbian which allowed Nokia to create it's own smartphone hardware designs long, long before an iPod or iPhone was even a glint in Jobs eye.
Regarding the iPod, I owned an Archos French made 20GB hard drive MP3 player four full years before the first iPod. It could play 192kbps VBR MP3's up to 320kbps, better than any other device available at the time. Roll forward many iPod iterations before they got anywhere close to that capacity or quality.
The only thing Apple genuinely brought to the table was the iPod wheel, which is now redundant.
Apple in no way invented or perfected touchscreens. The first portable computer touchscreen was the Casio PB-1000. I used touchscreen monitors myself in the early 1982. Apple built upon other touchscreen advances, but they cannot take the credit for pioneering, or inventing it.
It seems that Apple and their fanboi population still would have you believe that Apple invented any nifty technology which they stole or borrowed from other inventors and competitors.
Apple's market share is now down to 12.5% from 18% a year ago. And rightly so. Hardly owning anything at the moment. More like struggling to stay relevant.
The world has long since woken up to the failed American technological dream, and Apple's marketing department's part in it. Apple's forte was, as with many US tech companies: marketing and sales. Nothing more. The rest they beg, steal or borrow.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
