Breakthrough technology, never seen before in the mobile market. Apple, like always, surprises the word with the latest never seen before tech that will become mainstream in the near future, thanks to apple and its affordable pricing for everyday customers.
Now just slap that 2,5-3k RRP on the device and let it sell out in.
They’ve also become really, really good at outsourcing R&D to other companies. This lets them outsource the expense of trial and error, and swoop down with a mature product once everyone else has paid for it.
15 years ago they famously patented, and then leaked that they were working on a fingerprint reader authentication method, and then they watched the Android manufacturers bend over backwards to implement it so they could say they did it “first.” In those early days of smartphones, being first to implement something and then claiming Apple copied it was a big deal for people who wanted to be first movers (today they are called “techbros”). Motorola Mobility ate the cost of R&D, was never able to recoup the costs, and ended up being sold to Google for their patent portfolio. By the time Apple released Touch ID two and a half years later, Motorola Mobility was a shell of itself, and ended up being sold a second time to Lenovo.
Foldable phones have been a thing for a while, and Apple just sat back and took notes on what everyone else was doing. Surface Duo killed Microsoft’s last attempt at a mobile device. Now it’s a relatively mature market (we have tri-fold phones for two years now and tablets that fold into a laptop with a bluetooth keyboard) and now Apple will swoop in and bring the rest of the market.
The money isn’t in being a first mover; it’s in making a reliable product that everyone can use. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Apple made a trillion dollars while OpenBSD (upstream for a lot of Apple’s ecosystem) struggled to pay its light bills.
Generally true - but multitouch was a real innovation. I’m not familiar with other manufacturers perfecting touch interfaces AND design paradigms optimized for it.
Breakthrough technology, never seen before in the mobile market. Apple, like always, surprises the word with the latest never seen before tech that will become mainstream in the near future, thanks to apple and its affordable pricing for everyday customers.
Now just slap that 2,5-3k RRP on the device and let it sell out in.
Apple’s entire history as an org has been as a fast follower, not a first mover.
The Apple Newton is a fast example of why they avoid being a first mover.
They’ve also become really, really good at outsourcing R&D to other companies. This lets them outsource the expense of trial and error, and swoop down with a mature product once everyone else has paid for it.
15 years ago they famously patented, and then leaked that they were working on a fingerprint reader authentication method, and then they watched the Android manufacturers bend over backwards to implement it so they could say they did it “first.” In those early days of smartphones, being first to implement something and then claiming Apple copied it was a big deal for people who wanted to be first movers (today they are called “techbros”). Motorola Mobility ate the cost of R&D, was never able to recoup the costs, and ended up being sold to Google for their patent portfolio. By the time Apple released Touch ID two and a half years later, Motorola Mobility was a shell of itself, and ended up being sold a second time to Lenovo.
Foldable phones have been a thing for a while, and Apple just sat back and took notes on what everyone else was doing. Surface Duo killed Microsoft’s last attempt at a mobile device. Now it’s a relatively mature market (we have tri-fold phones for two years now and tablets that fold into a laptop with a bluetooth keyboard) and now Apple will swoop in and bring the rest of the market.
The money isn’t in being a first mover; it’s in making a reliable product that everyone can use. It shouldn’t be lost on anyone that Apple made a trillion dollars while OpenBSD (upstream for a lot of Apple’s ecosystem) struggled to pay its light bills.
Generally true - but multitouch was a real innovation. I’m not familiar with other manufacturers perfecting touch interfaces AND design paradigms optimized for it.
Apple usually prefers to do it right rather than do it first.
“fast” follower? Are we talking about the same apple who just released 2006’s windows Vista aero theme as a new design in 2025?
Apple is what we call “Sondermüll”.