[grim_io]

The iPhone opened up a whole new world of opportunities which were very clear from the start.

No one, except Steve Ballmer, would describe it as a potential fad or question how good it can actually get before Apple goes bankrupt from all the investment into this new tech.

I like this new stuff we get now, but the iPhone felt like a clear win with no downsides of a potential societal collapse.

[gerad]

Mobile phone addiction is our generation's smoking. We just don't realize it yet.

[GolfPopper]

Mobile phones & social media, tobacco, opium, gin... it seems like every century or so there's an epidemic of "this readily available thing creates addictive stimulation" and a lot of people get lost to it until society wises up about that particular thing. And then a generation or three later, the pattern repeats.

[grim_io]

Good point.

Pretty sure it's known. But, just like smoking, it's tolerated. Can't make the line go down.

[epistasis]

I was there and it was a very common view, though perhaps not a majority view, that the iPhone was a flash in the pan. There were lots of people committed to the idea that only physical keyboards could work for mobile. Touch interfaces were viewed highly skeptically. And it wasn't just the Microsoft or Palm people saying it, it was large chunks of their customers. The initial goal of the iPhone was 1%, yes, 1% share of the phone market! And many thought that was impossible for Apple and their strange new device.

[grim_io]

Where are we now? Around the 3s era?

By then, no one was saying that anymore.

The AI scepticism is still going strong.

[LarMachinarum]

don't worry, human, that will be corrected soon enough. You should learn to welcome your new AI overlords. Ask your regular handler LLM for advice on how best to do that.

Sent from my iMPC

[coldtea]

>No one, except Steve Ballmer, would describe it as a potential fad or question how good it can actually get before Apple goes bankrupt from all the investment into this new tech.

Countless pundits and many heads of companies like Motorolla and Nokia, said exactly what you say "nobody except Ballmer" would say.