February 2, 2012 By

Apple did not invent the smartphone

An image recently leaked of what if purported to be the first BlackBerry 10 smartphone-

Exclusive: First Image of a BlackBerry 10 Smartphone!

Within minutes, Twitter was full of comments like the following-

“That reminds me of something else…”

“That looks like an Android phone which all look like the iPhone…”

And so it went on.

Does anyone remember the Palm T5 or LifeDrive? They were full-screen PDAs that were rectangular and which had curved corners. The Loox? And a variety of other early PDAs that look somewhat similar to the iPhone, which arrived after them.

Apple did not invent the smartphone. Palm was the first to create a smartphone that captured the imaginations of millions of people. To be fair to Apple, the original iPhone really did change everything and inspire much improvement in the ease of use department from HTC, Samsung and the rest, but that does not mean that every new smartphone is copying the iPhone.

A rectangle with a big screen and curved corners is the natural shape for a modern-day smartphone. You cannot get away from that and for the foreseeable future that is the form they will take. Apple didn’t invent the rectangle either.

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About Shaun McGill

A freelance writer and mobile technology addict there are not many phones that have not been through Shaun's hands. Honest and straight talking, Shaun provides insightful content and provokes thought and debate and reviews products highlighting their good and bad bits to provided a rounded conclusion, taking in too all the various users.

Comments

  1. Mike Paterson says:
    February 2, 2012 at 9:43 am

    Sometimes a read a blog which results in a slow nod of the head and it puts a smile on my face.
    This is one such blog……

    Mike

  2. neoghio says:
    February 2, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Apple haven’t invented more than half the stuff. They just owe their marketing team for making everything so “hip” and “magical” and getting the sheep to follow as soon as their new “magical” device is released.

  3. JanineG says:
    February 2, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    Too good. Great to see you writing here as well Shaun!

  4. Bugblatter says:
    February 3, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Apple didn’t invent the rectangle; they just patented it.

    What Apple did was to make smartphones cool. I was using my Loox 720 years before the iPhone and doing many of the same things I use my Android phone for now. Back then it wasn’t cool; just bloody useful.

  5. Tony says:
    February 3, 2012 at 1:37 pm

    As true as what you say obviously is, there is no point trying to tell it to the rabid fans of any cult that their beliefs are wrong.

    But well said anyway ;)

  6. Chris says:
    February 3, 2012 at 4:47 pm

    Thank you for such a great post. Palm did seem to invent so many things that people say ‘That was copied from the iPhone’ – a real shame that such a great company has been swallowed up and spit out by HP

  7. Shaun McGill says:
    February 4, 2012 at 11:38 am

    “there is no point trying to tell it to the rabid fans of any cult that their beliefs are wrong.”

    I don’t think there is an Apple cult anymore, not with 46 million iPhones sold in the last quarter. This issue conflicts for me. On the one hand, I know people who will hear no wrong about anything Apple, but I know people who hate everything Apple does and who feel that Android is perfection in a phone.

    I will write an article about this subject and try to be objective, on my iMac:)