[tetomb]

I agree that apple did bring it all together rather well (over a sustained marketing and development phase) but I just don't see how anyone could think that smart phones similar to those that we have today weren't inevitable with or without apple.

http://mobile.engadget.com/2006/02/21/review-cingular-8125/ This was released over a year before the first iphone.

I think that apple's contribution was not so much innovation as it was popularisation.