- Joined
- Apr 24, 2020
RE: @Dom Cruise and @Lemmingwise.
I don't necessarily blame the invention of the iPhone -- it would have happened sooner or later in a different form. I'm really showing my age here, but I remember the internet being less of a revolution and more of an evolution, with a strong desire to release a portable pocket-sized computer (i.e. iPhone being yet another link in that chain). When I was really young, the internet was relegated to a bulky $2,000 desktop PC, but I remember laptops becoming more and more optimized by the turn of the millennium. They still lacked Wifi and such, but the desire to have a small, portable device with internet capabilities was something tech companies were scrambling to release. There was a shitty portable Game Boy knockoff called Game Com which had internet access (albeit dialup). At the start of the millennium, I remember a portable computer called Cybiko which had e-mail access and some web browsing capabilities, and was wireless and could play MP3's. One of my friends was a spoiled only-child whose parents bought him everything, and he flaunted his -- and this was a good 6-7 years before the iPhone.
I remember when cell phones evolved from monochrome Nokia phones to full-color flip phones with e-mail, AOL chat, and minor web browsing -- and this was maybe 2003-2004, because I was still in high school at the time and they were exploding in popularity. And then let's not forget Blackberry and the countless similar palm-pilot things in the 2000's that paved the way for the iPhone.
With that said, 2007 wasn't really like the 1st atomic bomb test as far as "the point of no return" was concerned. If anything, the iPhone is like a modern car, whereas 2000's cell phones were cars from prior decades, and the 1995 dial-PC was like a Ford Model-T. In that analogy, both the modern iPhone and the '95 PC are both computers with internet access, in the same comparable sense that a modern Honda is a gas-powered vehicle with 4 wheels like a Model-T -- but both are lightyears apart in performance and technology, yet simultaneously designed for the same purpose. In this analogy, you could argue that the invention of the automobile was the "point of no return" which led to an irreversible pathway (both good and bad) for modern cars -- just like you can say the launching of the personal computer was the "point of no return" for an irreversible pathway (both good and bad) for a desire to make them small and portable, e.g. laptops and cell phones.
Maybe my analogy is off, but who knows: if Apple didn't come up with the iPhone in 2007, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung or someone else (hell, even Blackberry) would have eventually. We'd still be in the same timeline, only a few years later or so. Remember, if the shitty Tiger Game Com and the Cybiko are any indication for the market, then the desire for people to carry around small, portable pocket computers with internet, games, video, and music has existed for over 20 years -- and as long as the desire as always been there, then a company would have always scrambled to make that technology better -- whether or not it was from Apple is irrelevant.
TL;DR - I'd argue that the introduction of the internet in general or the availability of personal computers was the "dropping of the atomic bomb" in regards to our irreversible timeline. Steve Jobs and the iPhone was basically just making a better, more destructive atomic bomb.
I don't necessarily blame the invention of the iPhone -- it would have happened sooner or later in a different form. I'm really showing my age here, but I remember the internet being less of a revolution and more of an evolution, with a strong desire to release a portable pocket-sized computer (i.e. iPhone being yet another link in that chain). When I was really young, the internet was relegated to a bulky $2,000 desktop PC, but I remember laptops becoming more and more optimized by the turn of the millennium. They still lacked Wifi and such, but the desire to have a small, portable device with internet capabilities was something tech companies were scrambling to release. There was a shitty portable Game Boy knockoff called Game Com which had internet access (albeit dialup). At the start of the millennium, I remember a portable computer called Cybiko which had e-mail access and some web browsing capabilities, and was wireless and could play MP3's. One of my friends was a spoiled only-child whose parents bought him everything, and he flaunted his -- and this was a good 6-7 years before the iPhone.
I remember when cell phones evolved from monochrome Nokia phones to full-color flip phones with e-mail, AOL chat, and minor web browsing -- and this was maybe 2003-2004, because I was still in high school at the time and they were exploding in popularity. And then let's not forget Blackberry and the countless similar palm-pilot things in the 2000's that paved the way for the iPhone.
With that said, 2007 wasn't really like the 1st atomic bomb test as far as "the point of no return" was concerned. If anything, the iPhone is like a modern car, whereas 2000's cell phones were cars from prior decades, and the 1995 dial-PC was like a Ford Model-T. In that analogy, both the modern iPhone and the '95 PC are both computers with internet access, in the same comparable sense that a modern Honda is a gas-powered vehicle with 4 wheels like a Model-T -- but both are lightyears apart in performance and technology, yet simultaneously designed for the same purpose. In this analogy, you could argue that the invention of the automobile was the "point of no return" which led to an irreversible pathway (both good and bad) for modern cars -- just like you can say the launching of the personal computer was the "point of no return" for an irreversible pathway (both good and bad) for a desire to make them small and portable, e.g. laptops and cell phones.
Maybe my analogy is off, but who knows: if Apple didn't come up with the iPhone in 2007, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung or someone else (hell, even Blackberry) would have eventually. We'd still be in the same timeline, only a few years later or so. Remember, if the shitty Tiger Game Com and the Cybiko are any indication for the market, then the desire for people to carry around small, portable pocket computers with internet, games, video, and music has existed for over 20 years -- and as long as the desire as always been there, then a company would have always scrambled to make that technology better -- whether or not it was from Apple is irrelevant.
TL;DR - I'd argue that the introduction of the internet in general or the availability of personal computers was the "dropping of the atomic bomb" in regards to our irreversible timeline. Steve Jobs and the iPhone was basically just making a better, more destructive atomic bomb.
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