Apple DID reinvent the cell phone
In slang, yes, I'd
agree, in the same way that Mercedes re-invented the car with the Smart
car.
However, in terms of evolution, no they didn't. Looking at the mobile
phones I've used and owned, they have evolved from monochrome text screens
(which could play ASCII style games!) to colour pixel screens which could play
basic arcade stlye games and connect to the internet, but only being able to
"tab" between "buttons", to ones that head towards a GUI when accessing the
internet with a cursor key moved mouse pointer to touch screens (pressure
sensitive and capacitive) which use the screen as a graphics tablet (attached to
a desktop computer).
It seems to match fairly accurately the evolution of
computers from monochrome text screens with ASCII games to colour text screens,
then low res screen and high res screens and the development of the GUI on the
desktop; along with the development of mice and graphics tablets using mice/pen
styli for input, along with touch screens (early methods being grids of IR
across the front which a finger breaks, etc).
In between, there have been
specialised miniaturised computers for specialised jobs - the personal
organisers.
The evolution to a full touch screen phone is not really that
surprising as the phone has taken on more of the desktop computer and the
personal organiser, integrating more of the functions of each. Having full size
keyboards or graphics pads attached would not be convenient and lead to finding
a solution which comes to virtualising them on the screen and then finding some
way to control a pointer - initially cursor keys would work, but the developemnt
of small, cheap touch screens would lead to...
So to say Apple reinvented the
mobile phone without mentioning all the intervening developments and
evolution is being very economical with the truth.
And the graphics tablet is
not a recent invention - back in the early '80s I was using one at Uni with a
Tektronics storage display. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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