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by crottypeter 3611 days ago
> So far, no moonshot by a big corp has paid off.

What about that mobile phone apple launched in 2007?

1 comments

I wouldn't call the iPhone a moonshot, more an extreme iteration.

This was around before the iPhone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPAQ (HP IPAQ)

Combine that with a phone and update the software and make it designed and you have an iphone.

The iPhone went without keyboard and put all real estate towards the touch screen. That was a big change back then.
There were other no-keyboard all touchscreen devices though. The Nokia N770 (2005-2006), the PalmPilot and later iterations (starting 1997), various HTC smartphones and Pocket PCs before 2007, and so on.
The HP IPAQ didn't have a keyboard on standard models. Touchscreen only for text entry, with a little stylus to tap it out with. Around 5-10 hardware buttons around the case for things like back, volume controls, power etc. POCKET PC had excel, word, played and recorded audio files but was difficult to use and sluggish on the lower end models.

The top wiki picture with keyboard is one of the later models aimed at the Blackberry corporate users.

Iphone wasn't that innovative, just did things simply and really did "just work", which was a big deal at the time.