Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple, iPhone
iPhone is "Invention of the Year": Time
Time Magazine's love affair with Apple is very well documented. This week, they named the iPhone the "Invention of the Year." The winning combination: The industrial design, touchscreen, the effect on the market overall, the introduction of Mac OS X on a mobile platform and the future, according to writer Lev Grossman:
"Look at the iPod of six years ago...It looks like something a caveman whittled from a piece of flint using another piece of flint. Now imagine something that's going to make the iPhone look that primitive. You'll have one in a few years..."
All of these factors point to Apple's single greatest asset: Patience. Users clamored for an Apple-branded phone long before a hint of such a thing even existed. All the while, Apple quietly refined the design, the interface and OS X; the deal with AT&T and the iPhone's roadmap.
The iPhone wasn't the first mobile phone to the market, of course. Nor was the iPod the first digital music player. The technology market is populated with companies determined to be first. Apple is content to show up late to the party, but with a killer gift.
[Via Electronista]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bassir said 11:12PM on 11-01-2007
Why is this damn thing getting so much attention? It's just a phone. It has features every other smartphone on the market has; sure it has a great interface for them, but EDGE just makes it all look like eye-candy rather than an actual "feature". I'm not against the iPhone (I actually am a proud owner of one), but the device just has too much unneeded attention and hype. The touch screen sounds great in all, but someone who actually owns an iPhone could go endlessly about how the screen is just a fingerprint/smudge-magnet.
I really hope they stop caring about this thing and just let it be; let us all just be. I want to go about my day and not expect something like "omg iphone".
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Buster said 11:35PM on 11-01-2007
I Think your analysis of the iPhone is wrong. I own one too. I never have a problem with smudges on the screen.
You mention the interface like it is no big deal. The interface is everything, my friend.
All other phones have really crappy interfaces, the iPhone creates a user experience that is almost effortless and fun.
However, you are entitled to your opinion; just don't complain about it when you stumble across a story proclaiming it on an "apple" weblog.
Or perhaps,answer, what would you name as the "Invention of the Year"?
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momo411176 said 12:06AM on 11-02-2007
Love my iPhone, and this is due for!
Yes, EDGE is EDGE, but it is in my opinion, very impress when viewing mobile websites. Example of sites that are worthy when you HAVE to be on EDGE:
1) Google mobile - Very useful
http://www.google.com/m
2) All Google mobile products:
http://www.google.com/m/products?source=m2
3) The NY Time - mobile
mobile.nytimes.com
Would be nice if others have great sites to browse when us iPhone users are on EDGE.
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TonyAndrewMeyer said 8:33PM on 11-15-2007
Last time I checked, *Mac* OS X still wasn't available on a mobile platform, unless you're referring to notebooks.
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LurkingEngadgeteer said 7:16AM on 11-02-2007
I'm a bit of a gadget whore, and yes I do agree given what the iPhone does, and the overall hype in leadup to its release, its deserved of the 'Invention of the Year' in the consumer space.
The iPhone is set apart from the rest not in terms of features (dap, email functionality, internet). We can all agree that most modern mobile phones and smartphones all have the same features. The iPhone is unique in the way it was designed both in hardware and software.
If you're interested in a rather good (and humorous) comparison between a number of smartphones and the iPhone, and the problem with the mobile phone industry as a whole, read Stephen Fry's blog article on it:
http://stephenfry.com/blog/?p=3.
On the other hand, if you're already filled with bile due to the hype and the constant mention in the press, it's really best to just give any article about the iPhone a pass and let it go.
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Erik said 2:12PM on 11-02-2007
Only computer nerds really have a problem with the iPhone, and that isn't what Apple targets with anything they make, really. Apple made the iPhone to "wow" and benefit the average consumer, not someone who needs a million overwhelming smartphone features that really only they need.
Hell, I'm a pretty big geek and I've found very few things that haven't been fixed by third-party apps.
So anyway, that's why it's such a big deal. It's also taking over New York City here by storm, there's always at least one or two other people in every train car who have one. It's one of the few electronic products that's selling FASTER than the iPod did.
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geochick said 4:24PM on 11-02-2007
That's nice mine didn't even last a month before going dead... an no I didn't apply one hack or drop the dang thing.
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geochick said 4:25PM on 11-02-2007
That's nice mine didn't even last a month before going dead...
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ptontiger said 10:14PM on 11-02-2007
Best gadget of the year? No doubt. Certainly the iPhone is an amazing innovation and like all contemporary Apple products, it's a fusion of art & science/form & function that few tech companies have the insight to create. But let's be honest. If this meets Time's criteria for the greatest invention of the year, the magazine should rethink and revise it's metrics. The criterion with the greatest weight should be "in what (reasonably expectable) capacity will the invention in question change/impact the daily lives of the masses?" I know that we live in an age where innovation is far more evolutionary and far less revolutionary than it used to be, but even with that taken into consideration, the iPhone and the shock wave it no doubt will send through the industry falls short of the foreseeable impact that the title of "Invention of the Year" should demand. I think that there is a great difficulty separating present popularity from future relevance and Time has failed in this regard. I have a feeling that the people in charge of making the list were not qualified to make such an acute distinction, with all due respect. I personally believe that the greatest invention of the year lies in the area of energy efficiency although some of the ones on the list aren't very impressive. (Case in point: water injection to boost the power/improve efficiency of the internal combustion engine isn't new. This was fairly commonplace in WWII fighter planes.)
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