Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by hammerha 2933 days ago
Well, about 10 years ago before iPhone appeared, was the mobile the next big thing? In hindsight of course. How did the data look like before iPhone? Check out the chart in this article https://www.recode.net/2017/6/26/15821652/iphone-apple-10-ye...

There's no data before a breakthrough. We should be wary of hypes but at the same time we shouldn't diminish pioneers.
1 comments
scarface74 2932 days ago
If you looked at the trend lines, Mobile was definitely growing in 1997 (https://www.statista.com/statistics/203688/handset-penetrati...)

I was working at Radio Shack in 1995-1996 and mobile phones were definitely starting to grow in popularity. By then, you already had subsidized “free” phones and mobile plans were around $35 a month.

link
hammerha 2931 days ago
Okay, maybe I wasn't clear enough.

When we say that "Mobile is eating the world" or something, we are not talking about the mobile phone we can make a call with but the phone we can use the internet and applications with.

Your data is about the mobile device that allowed us to make a phone call.

If you say that "this is also data" then we have that kind of data for chatbot as well, e.g., the number of sales of Alexa and Google Home devices, or Messenger installations, etc.

link