[Shorel]

The sudden success of the BlackBerry and the iPods also had something to do.

Sony Ericsson was in the right path with their P800-P900-P910 line of smartphones running Symbian OS. Big Screen, behind a 'normal' but removable phone keyboard.

After the iPad success, Sony Ericsson abandoned the P line to produce walkman phones.

After the BlackBerry success, all smartphones were abandoned to make BlackBerry clones.

That's the echo chamber you mention. Thank his Steveness Apple had something else in mind.