[maneesh]

Phone, music player, and internet communicator in a single device, that enabled worldwide communication reliably.

Just the original phone solved voicemail (with visual voicemail) once and for all in one fell swoop. It was just echelons better.

That part of the initial demo still continues to blow my mind. https://youtu.be/VQKMoT-6XSg?t=29m30s

Here’s the original introduction to the iphone: https://youtu.be/MnrJzXM7a6o?t=1m23s

[baxtr]

Don’t get me wrong. I’m a huge fan of the iPhone. I just don’t think it really fits the standard “solve a problem for customers” folklore.

[aldanor]

But then again, Apple wasn't a startup at that point. A corporation with millions of customers and a huge fanbase who would buy anything it would produce without even questioning isn't exactly on the same line as a 0-customer startup.

[baxtr]

Ok, fair enough. And what about TikTok then?

[aldanor]

What does TikTok have to do with it?

It focused on a specific niche in a specific age group in a single country, which led to it expanding exponentially to 100M users in half a year there. Growing after that is a completely different story and not what's being discussed here.

[baxtr]

Oh I was thinking we are discussing if solving a burning problem is a necessary requirement for startup success. Maybe I should have been clearer