

2002: "Apple is contemplating ... an 'iPhone.'" - rpbertp13
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/19/technology/19APPL.html?8hpib

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larrik
"He could also rectify the Newton's single biggest shortcoming: the device's
inability to communicate easily with the Macintosh desktop computer. Apple has
already begun offering Bluetooth local wireless networking technology for
peripheral devices, a feature that would make it simple to share information
between a phone and a computer."

And yet, that's still the biggest thing that really doesn't work well with the
iPhone.

I mean, seriously. I have to physically plug my phone into my computer to
delete a song? Or change it's name? Or reorder an out-of-sequence album? Yet,
I can make and edit movies on it.

Not to mention the fact that iTunes has a habit of breaking something every
time it syncs my phone (album covers disappear, ringtones disappear, apps get
reordered (that used to be worse) etc.)

~~~
bad_user
That's because they've chosen iTunes as the iPhone's control panel.

You could say that out of all of their successful products, iTunes comes out
as a big stain of shit on a white piece of clothing.

~~~
joezydeco
Call it shit, but in my opinion iTunes is what made the iPod the hit that it
is today.

You have to think back to the MP3 player market back in 2001 to see what a
pile of shit the _entire_ world was. Every player, from MpMAN to Rio, was
saddled with a last-minute-afterthought of a PC interface for loading songs.
iTunes might not have been that much better, but it worked seamlessly with the
iPod.

~~~
bad_user
That's why I bought an MP3 player with the best interface ever invented for
uploading: a visible file-system (or you could say Windows Explorer to non-
technical types).

~~~
joezydeco
And how do you manage your library? Folders within folders buried somewhere in
/home/user or C:\Documents and Settings\user\Desktop\Music\Mp3
Files\Artists\\...?

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whatevers2009
Palm founded in 1992. Apple offers to buy for $1Bn in 2002? Average of $100M
per year in business...

Palm sells to HP in 2010 for $1.2Bn. 1Bn in first 10 years and only $200M in
the 8 years that followed? Wow. Should have sold in 2002!

~~~
code_duck
I assume people with a stake in Palm are now not so happy now about not having
sold to Apple. I wonder how that would have worked out, though.

~~~
eftpotrm
From my memory of what Palm devices were like then and seeing what's happened
since, IMHO Apple dodged a bullet there. Palm was an overvalued, overhyped
company with a product line that was already hitting technical limits due to
design ties to a too-slow processor and too-small screen, and one that's spent
all the time since fighting to stay up-to-date and relevant.

OT - a bit of checking a while back revealed that the larger current
Smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S are roughly the same footprint as an
old Psion Revo. I never had a Revo but did have a 5Mx and could touch-type on
it fast enough to take notes. How I would _love_ to have a phone with a
keyboard that good, not the silly little things we get stuck with now.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psion_Revo>

~~~
chronomex
I have a Palm Pre. Previous Palm devices weren't that great from the little
I've used them. WebOS is amazing though. It is, without exaggeration, the best
piece of software I've ever used.

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Apocryphon
''We decided that between now and next year, the P.D.A. is going to be
subsumed by the telephone,'' he said last week in an interview. ''We think the
P.D.A. is going away.''

As someone who would love to have a smartphone-that-isn't-a-phone, I'd have to
agree. The iPhone killed the PDA. Oh well, I'll always have my iPod Touch.

~~~
ugh
Well, the iPhone is more 2002 PDA than 2002 phone. It’s not exactly that the
PDA lost, it’s just that being able to make phone calls and to surf the web
are essential features a PDA needs.

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jganetsk
I love how the article mentions Danger, Andy Rubin's company before Android.

Even in a 2002 article about iPhones, Andy Rubin lurks.

