>Executives at Nokia and BlackBerry saw the first iPhone, with its lack of a physical keyboard, as an impractical toy for media consumption
This also is how most people use their smart phone today. They were right. Perhaps they just didn't realize that people wanted a on-the-go impractical toy for media consumption.
RIM was obviously attached to the keyboard because that was a defining feature of the Blackberry. They thought (or didn't want to see) that people would not want a touchscreen for typing their emails.
But Nokia had released a touchscreen phone even before the iPhone and their first iPhone-like smartphone was in 2008 so only a year after the first iPhone. What they stuck with for too long is Symbian, which was blown out of the water by the iPhoneOS and then its apps ecosystem. In contrast, Samsung quickly ditched Symbian what whatever else they were using to adopt Android.
This also is how most people use their smart phone today. They were right. Perhaps they just didn't realize that people wanted a on-the-go impractical toy for media consumption.