[publicfig]

If you have the chance, it really is worth going back and watching the original iPhone release video. It's pretty amazing to see some of the things that were so new and exciting a few years ago now so much a part of the phone landscape that we can't even imagine a phone without them. It's almost more amazing to see how basic it seems compared to what we have now, just 6 years later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN4U5FqrOdQ

[bryanlarsen]

Keep in mind that most of those things that were "new and exciting" weren't new; it was just that most people hadn't seen them before, or not done well before.

For example, nobody used capacitive touch screens because they were horribly imprecise. The iPhone included some tricks to make them less precise, but mostly they just embraced the imprecision: all tap targets on the iPhone are thumb size.

Another thing that bothered me was Steve's description of the screen as the highest resolution screen available on a phone, when there were several gadgets available with much higher resolution screens, such as the Nokia N770.

My experience with the N770 definitely made me dismissive of the iPhone. The n770 made me well aware of the value of having a web browser in your pocket. But it had an 800 pixel screen at a time when that was the minimum width that many web sites designed for, along with a highly accurate stylus that you could use to accurately click on tiny links. There was no way the web was going to be usable on a 480 pixel screen without an accurate stylus. Which meant that every web site had to be rewritten to be iPhone friendly.

Who was going to buy an iPhone when virtually all websites were unusable? (remember at that time there were no apps). And who would rewrite their website to support an iPhone that nobody was buying? Classic chicken and egg problem.

Steve told us the answer: an incredibly polished product and incredible salesmanship.

[antimagic]

"Who was going to buy an iPhone when virtually all websites were unusable? (remember at that time there were no apps). And who would rewrite their website to support an iPhone that nobody was buying? "

Which of course was why MobileSafari and it's "pinch-to-zoom" functionality was revolutionary - it solved the chicken-and-egg problem by not requiring a site to be rewritten (although as experience has since demonstrated, you can certainly improve the user experience by optimising for mobile devices).

[thoughtsimple]

"nobody used capacitive touch screens because they were horribly imprecise. The iPhone included some tricks to make them less precise, but mostly they just embraced the imprecision: all tap targets on the iPhone are thumb size."

This is definitely not true today and I don't believe it was true when the iPhone was introduced either. I remember how remarkable it was that I could hit targets on unzoomed web pages accurately.

[Synaesthesia]

The iphone may have had a lower resolution screen, but the performance and responsiveness of the OS and browser were the real innovations. The power of Safari as well as the way you could zoom made it a game changer for surfing the web on your phone.

[bryanlarsen]

Blackberries from that era were very responsive. The web browser sucked, of course.

[AlexanderDhoore]

I was surprised by the fact that it was an "internet phone". They didn't even talk about apps really. Just a few "widgets", like Google Maps.

The native, installed apps were just a by-product.

[mattmanser]

There's a great story by one of the engineers about this presentation, whole thing was still pretty prototype and crashed a fair bit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/and-then-steve-sa...

Also to put this in context, go watch the original Android sneak peek. Anyone who claims Google didn't completely rip off Apple is delusional. Android sucked pre-iPhone. Can't find the video now with a quick google.

[ash]

It didn't make sense to talk about apps, because there were no third-party apps at the time.

[tehwalrus]

they didn't even open up to 3rd party developers until the release of the 3G - over a year later (Jan 2007 - Jul 2008).

[pjmlp]

Symbian, Psion and PocketPC were what then?!

[untog]

The OP pretty obviously was talking about the iPhone specifically.

[pjmlp]

From my understanding, the OP was making the typical statement that before the iPhone there was nothing on the mobile space.

[freehunter]

I read it as "Apple didn't talk about apps because Apple didn't have apps". It's not good practice to call out things your product is missing unless you have a great reason for not having those things (like a stylus).

[mongol]

Yes, I saw it a while ago. It is something very rare, how many videos of this kind introduces something that completely revolutionizes the way everyone uses a piece of technology?